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History and Uses 



OF 



[jMESTONES AND MaRBLES^ 



BY S. M. BURNHAM 



WITH FORTY-EIGHT CHROMO-LITHOGRAPHS 



APi^ 18)883' 
, No.J^./.i.;^^- 



Boston 

S. E. CASSINO AND COMPANY 

1883 



-^ 






Copyright, 

BY S. E. CASS mo & CO. 

1883. 



I,- llA^^ 



3 



H 



PREFACE. 



It was not the design of the author of Limestones and 
Marbles to write a treatise on geology, nor is the book in- 
tended for scientific readers as such, since it makes no claims 
to new investigations, nor offers any new theories on the 
subject ; it only presents the facts and speculations of original 
explorers and writers, so selected and arranged as to illustrate 
the value of limestones in some departments of geology, but 
more especially their use in the mechanic and the fine arts, and 
their history in civilization. Technical terms have, generally, 
been explained so that an unscientific reader may be able to 
understand them without reference to a text-book. 

Calcareous rocks are of great value in determining the age 
of strata, on account of the large number and variety of 
organic remains which they enclose, while they largely con- 
tribute to the diversified and picturesque scenery of the globe. 
Limestones are, in one sense, a link between the mineral and 
the animal kingdoms, since most of them have an organic origin 
and possess, on that account, an interest above that of most 
other rocks. The adaptability of marbles to the purposes of 
art have made them indispensable to man in the higher 
department of sculpture and architecture. 

There is no work exclusively devoted to limestones and 
marbles known to the writer, who has been compelled to 
gather facts from various sources ; and any deficiency of such 



IV PREFACE. 

facts in regard to the limestones of some countries is due, 
probably, rather to the lack of geological knowledge than to 
any failure of supply. 

The authors consulted for scientific truth, or what claims to 
be truth, include some of the most prominent geologists of 
this country and Europe, as well as those of less note ; but, as 
is well known, there is a difference of opinion among them on 
many geological questions. In regard to the age of a forma- 
tion and some other points they are likely to differ or change 
their opinions, and the theories of to-day may be abandoned 
to-morrow, while the essential character of the rocks remain 
as unquestionable facts. An illustration of this subject is 
afforded in the Red Ammonite and the Carrara marbles of 
Italy, which modern geologists have changed in chronological 
rank many times. This may be an extreme case, but other 
formations have acquired, in some degree, the same doubtful 
character. 

To give the subject continuity and completeness it has 
been sometimes necessary to refer to other formations com- 
bined and interstratified with calcareous strata, forming series, 
groups, and systems. 

In the classification of the animal kingdom the general 
arrangement has been followed, and in the descriptions of 
fossiliferous limestones an antiquated name may have been 
occasionally retained. Prominence has been given to the 
color of marbles and other ornamental stones, because this 
quality, combined with a capacity for polish, is of primary 
importance. The Latin names of the "Antique Stones" 
have been mentioned as far as they are known, since they 
occur in classic writings, while their corresponding Italian 
names, by which they are recognized by modern antiquaries, 
are used in preference to their English equivalents, which, in 
many instances, are absurd or fanciful. 



INTRODUCTION. 



A BEAUTIFUL statue, a fine monument, a magnificent build- 
ing, or any other grand and pleasing object in stone, naturally 
suggests inquiry as to the nature of the substance composing 
it, the place where it was obtained, its age, importance in art, 
and various other facts connected with its history ; for most 
rocks have a history extending far back through geological 
eras beyond human computation. A knowledge of the nature 
and origin of limestones, a rock that contributes so largely to 
works of art, enhances the pleasure these productions afford, 
and awakens admiration for the wonderful laws of Nature, and 
the methods by which she has brought to perfec1:ion the 
abundant materials of her immense laboratory, and placed 
them at man's disposal to be applied by his energy and genius 
to his use and the gratification of his aesthetic tastes. 

The perfect adaptability of marble to statuary and the more 
ornamental parts of architecture had, undoubtedly, an im- 
portant influence in the creation of the beautiful works of 
those nations^that have attained the highest excellence in the 
fine arts, the Greek and Latin races, in whose countries are 
found an abundance of the best material for sculpture. How 
far the superiority of Greek art was due to the native pro- 
duction of Greece is a question no one can decide, but there 
can be little doubt that the excellence of Parian and Pentelic 
marbles had an influence in the development of the Attic taste 



VI INTRODUCTION. 

for sculpture, and stimulated the Greek artists to aim at the 
highest results in execution. 

Marbles rank next to precious stones for beauty and ele- 
gance in decoration, but, unlike them, they are very abundant 
.and, of an almost unlimited variety. Under the general term 
of m#.rble, are often classed other stones used for artistic pur- 
poses, which for beauty, diversity of colors, and fine polish 
are suitable for decoration ; such as alabaster, aragonite, gyp^ 
sum (all calcareous), serpentine, porphyry, labradorite, basalt, 
and some others, whose constituents are essentially different. 
All marbles, properly speaking, are limestones admitting a 
polish, whether crystalline or uncrystalline. 

Stratified rocks embody the geological records of the globe, 
and these important memorials are, to a great extent, pre- 
served in calcareous strata, therefore they are the most sig- 
nificant and interesting among all strata for scientific study. 

Limestones constitute a large part of the rocks of the earth, 
being found in every period from the oldest to the most re- 
cent. A difference of opinion exists among geologists in 
regard to their formation, some maintaining the theory that 
they 'are all, or nearly all, of organic origin, while others be- 
lieve that a large proportion were formed by precipitation 
resulting* from chemical reactions. It is probable that both 
processes effected the result, but by far the greater part, even 
of those that have undergone metamorphism, were composed 
largely of the remains of living beings, inhabiting marine and 
fresh waters. Shells, either entire or in comminuted frag- 
ments, small particles of older calcareous rocks broken off 
and reduced to fine sediment, were precipitated to the bot- 
tom of the ocean, and, gradually accumulating, constituted 
beds of limestone, in some instances of very great thickness ; 
those of organic origin were formed in a similar manner, in 
fresh and inland waters. It can hardly be doubted that some 
limestones were the result of precipitation, as water, charged 
with carbonate of lime, in dropping through small crevices, 
and depositing the lime, would in time produce masses of 



INTRODUCTION. Vll 

pure limestone, as in the case of stalagmites and stalactites, 
and, perhaps, those marbles called calcareous alabasters. 

Various . causes operated to consolidate the • sediments 
forming limestones, whether composed of shells or pulverized 
rocks. The agents were carbonate of lime in the nature of 
cement, great and long-continued pressure, and water of a 
high degree of temperature, wTien the process occupied a very- 
long time. As the materials of limestones, in some instances, 
have been worked over many times, passing from " sand to 
rock, and from rock to sand, in ever recurring cycles," their 
growth must have been exceedingly slow. 

They contain more organic remains than any other rock, 
and by their general distribution afford proof that the waters 
of the earth, in past eras, as they are now, v/ere inhabited by 
an unlimited number and diversity of organized beings. A 
very large number of the living species that have contributed 
to the formation of limestones were extremely minute, afford- 
ing an admirable illustration of the wonderful economy with- 
which Nature carries on her operations. These innumerable 
beings, the necessity of whose existence might have been 
questioned by human presumption, yielded their stony skel- 
etons for the structure of rock material ages before the cre- 
ation- of the human race. 

The oldest rocks known are the Laurentian, a formation 
of great thickness, including calcareous strata, thus proving 
the extraordinary age of limestones. It was formerly sup- 
posed there was no organic life during this remote era, the 
mythological period of geology, but as the chemists say that 
the presence of graphite indicates organic matter, and as this 
mineral is found among the Eozoic rocks, the inference would 
seem to follow that there existed vegetable and probably the 
lower forms of animal life during this period; at least, this 
is the argument of those who maintain the theory. 

Although limestones have had a long chronological history, 
they are to be found among the youngest rocks, and are in 
process of formation at the present time. 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. 

DIFFERENT CLASSES OF LIMESTONES. 

Limestones classed and named according to their Fossils, Locality, or Geological Age. — 
Varieties in regard to Structure. — Concretions. — Geodes. — Dolomite, or Magnesian 
Limestone. — Oolite. — Xummulitic Limestone. — Travertine. — Peperino. — Alabas- 
ter.— Gypsum.— Serpentine.— Metamorphism.— Caverns 1 

CHAPTER II. 

FOSSILS. 

Classification of Fossils. — Definition. — Importance in Calcareous Rocks. — Condition 
of Fossils. — Divisions of the Animal Kingdom. — Protozoans. — Radiates. — Mol- 
lusks. — Articulates. — Vertebrates. — Vegetable Kingdom. — Cryptogams. — Fossils 
of the Paris Basin 13 

CHAPTER III. 

GENERAL DIVISIONS OF GEOLOGICAL TIME. 

Chronological Order of Strata. — Methods of determining the Age of Rocks. — How 
Rocks may be Studied. — Eozoic Rocks. — Paleozoic Era. — Silurian Limestones. — 
Devonian, Carboniferous, and Permian Limestones. — Mesozoic Era. — Limited Dis- 
tribution in the United States. — Jurassic Formation. — Cretaceous Rocks. — Cenozoic 
Era. — Tertiary Period. — Orbitoides Limestone. — Quaternary Period. — Classifica- 
tion of Strata , 39 

CHAPTER IV. 

LIMESTONES OF THE UNITED STATES. 

ATLANTIC REGION. 

General Divisions of Limestone Areas. — New England. — Green-Mountain Marbles. — 
Serpentines. — New York : Its Extensive Limestone Formations. — Eozoic and Pale- 
ozoic Rocks of New Jersey. — Cretaceous. — Harlani and Gryphaea Beds. — Pennsyl- 
vania. — Appalachian Chain. — Thickness of Silurian Recks. — " Great Limestone." — 
Maryland and Delaware. — Water-line Group. — Trias. -Potomac Marble. — Oldest 
Rocks of Virginia. — Paleozoic Strata. — Tertiary. — Infusorial Beds. — Rock Systems 
of the Carolinas. — Buhrstone Formation. — Carolina Marbles. — Georgia and Flori- 
da. — Vicksburg Group. — Orbitoidal Limestone. — Coral Reef 47 

ix 



X CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER V. 

LIMESTONES OF THE UNITED ST KTY.?) — continued. 

THE MISSISSIPPI BASIN. 

Silurian of Ohio. — Varieties of Limestones. — Organic Remains. — Waverly Group. — 
Berea Grit. — North Vernon Blue of Indiana. — Immense Blocks. — Its Power of 
Resistance. — Geode Beds. — Caverns. — Classification of Illinois Limestones. — Lithos- 
trotion and Archimedes. — Varieties of Marble. — Iron Regions of Michigan, — Lime- 
stone Formations. — Paleozoic Remains. — Drift Deposits. — Travertine. — Eozoic 
Rocks of Wisconsin. — Scenery developed by the Magnesian Limestone. — Paleozoic 
Strata of Iowa. — Western Strata. — Important Fossils. — Iowa Marble. — Primary 
Rocks of Missouri. — Marble Beds. — Abundance of Tennessee Marble. — Five 
Classes of Marbles. — Limestones of Kentucky mostly Paleozoic. — Blue-Grass Re- 
gions. — Knobstone Formation. — Kentucky Marbles. — Mississippi Limestones. — 
Orange Sand. — Alabama. — Limit of the Silurian System. — Tertiary Deposits. — 
White Limestone. — Recent Formations of Louisiana. — Loess. — Bluff Formation. — 
Rocks of Texas. — Natural Walls. — Fossils. — Arkansas. — Millstone Grit. — Oil- 
Trough Ridge. — Other Formations. — Fossil Bones. — Chalk Bluffs. — Carbonif- 
erous and Permian Systems in Kansas. — Triassic and Jurassic Rocks. — The Mas- 
todon 62 

CHAPTER VI. 

LIMESTONES OF THE UNITED SI KT-ES — concluded, 

ROCKY MOUNTAINS AND PACIFIC COAST, 

The Region only partially explored. — Surveys of King. — Thickness of Strata. — Eozoic 
Rocks. — Dolomite. — St. Cassian Fossils. — Paleozcjic Limestones. — Canons of 
Nevada. — Saurians. — Tufa Domes. — Later Formations in Colorado. — Fossils Im- 
perfect. —Volcanic Rocks. — Natural Features. — Archaeology. — Cave and Cliff 
Dwellings. — Territories West of the Mississippi. — Calcareous Rocks Abundant. — 
Remarkable Canons, — Mountains of California. — Jaspers. — Cinnabar. — Marble. — 
Travertine. — Remains of Gigantic Mammals. — Placer Mining. — Malachite. — Ter- 
tiary along the Pacific Coast. — Drift go 

CHAPTER VII. 

LIMESTONES OF BRITISH AMERICA AND THE WEST INDIA ISLANDS. 

BRITISH AMERICA. 

Eozoic Rocks of Canada. — The Laurentian Series, — Scientific Value of the Rocks. — 
Laurentian Marbles. — Eozoon Canadense. — Different Species of Rocks. — Falls of 
Montmorency. — Building-Stone. — Dolomites and Limestones. — Mingan Islands. 
— Gaspe Pebbles. — Limestone of Lake Huron, — Cape Breton and Fire Island Mar- 
bles. — Hudson Bay 103 

WEST INDIA ISLANDS. 

Cuba. — Madrepore Limestones. — A Peculiar Breccia. —Jamaica. — Coast Ranges. — 
Species of Limestone. — Building-Stones, — Barbadoes, — Conglomerate of the Sand- 
wich Islands * 108 



CONTENTS. XI 

CHAPTER VIII. 

LIMESTONES OF MEXICO AND SOUTH AMERICA. 



Rocks of the Andes.— Table-land. — Fire-opal. — "Alpine" Limestone. — Caverns.— 
Geology of Northern Mexico. — Marble of Hermasillo. — Carboniferous Fossils. — 
Gold Placers. — "Shell Mountain." — Onyx Marble. — Isthmus of Tehuantepec. — 
Cretaceous and Tertiary Systems 112 

SOUTH AMERICA. 
Peculiarity of the Andes. — Brazilian Plateau. — Opinions of Geologists. — Fossils. — 
Eozoon Canadense. — Human Remains. —Tosca. — Pampas. — Guiana and Vene- 
zuela. —Plain of the Amazons.— '< Alpine" Limestone. — Shell-heaps. —Terrace 
Plains of Chili. — Elevation of the Coast. — Calcareous Rocks. — Tertiary Deposits 
of Patagonia. — Shingle. — Limestones. — Uraguay. — Venezuela. — Island of Trin- 
idad 114 

CHAPTER IX. 

LIMESTONES OF GREAT BRITAIN. 

Geological Structure of the British Isles. — Classification of Silurian Rocks. — Rep- 
resentative Limestones of the L. Silurian. — Wales. — Historical Associations. — 
Castles. — Snowdon. — Limestones of Scotland. — Of Ireland. — U. Silurian. -^ Lud- 
low Castle. — Milton. — Devonian System. — Mountain Limestone. — A Continuous 
Series. — Magnesian Limestone. — New Red Sandstone. — Jurassic or Oolitic Lime- 
stones. — Classification. — Portland and Purbec Beds. — Uses of Purbeck Marble. — 
Wealden Beds. — Chalk. — Headon and Bembridge Series. — British Marbles. — 
Sculptures in the British Museum 121 

CHAPTER X. 

LIMESTONES OF FRANCE. 
Ornamental Stones. — Nummulitic and Gryphite Limestones. — Jurassic Strata. — Nor- 
mandy. — Caen Stone. — Calcaire Polypiers. — Cote-d'Or. — Eisenrahm. — Ardennes. 
— Givet Limestone. — Montbard. — Buffon. — Burgundy. — Guettard's Opinion. — 
Langres. — Nancy. — Toul. — Caverns. — Chateau of Versailles. — Vosges Moun- 
tains. — Vosges Sandstone. — Mount Donon. — Nord. — Vise Limestone. — Mount 
Auxois. — Gauls and Romans. — Valley of the Seine. — Indusial Limestone. — Ter- 
tiary Remains. — Campan Marbles. — Griotte and Caunes Marbles. — Molasse. — St. 
Loup. — Vendee. — Poitiers. — Cliffs on the Clain.— The Oolite. — Angers. — Brit- 
tany. — Chalk Beds. — Paris Basin. — Cuvier 139 

CHAPTER XL 

LIMESTONES OF BELGIUM, GERMANY, AND THE NETHERLANDS. 

BELGIUM. 

Formations Identical with some in France. — The Eifel Limestone. — The Givet Forma- 
tion. — Carboniferous System. — Vise Limestone. — Old Stone Age. — Conglomerate 
of Burnot. — Psammites. — "Petit Granit." — Rupelian System. — Kleyn Spawen 
Beds. — Breccia of Dourlers. — Fresh-water Limestones — Luxembourg. — Belgian 
Marbles 151 



XU CONTENTS. 

GERMANY AND THE NETHERLANDS. 
Representative Limestones. — Devonian Formation. — The Zechstein. — Muschelkalk. 

— Planerkalk. — Grauwacke. — Carboniferous Limestones. — Maestricht Beds. — 
Thuringian Forest. — Harlz Mountains. — Solenhofen Slates. — Eozoon Bavaricum. 

— Limestones of the Rhine. — Silesian Limestones. — Rauch-wacke. — Calcareous 
Tufa. — Caverns. —Agates. — German Marbles. — Antique Sculptures of the Mu- 
seum of Berlin 154 

CHAPTER XII. 

LIMESTONES OF SWITZERLAND AND THE ALPS. 

Alpine Chain. — Eastern Alps. —Trias. — Lias. — Gypsum Zones. — Dolomite. —Vene- 
tian Alps. — Molasse. — Nagelfluhe. — Nummulitic Limestone. — Glarus Slates. — 
The Grunten. — Tertiary Strata. — CEningen Beds. — The Jura. — Black Forest.— 
Jurassic Series. — Jura Limestone. — Cretaceous Rocks. — Swiss Marbles .... 162 

CHAPTER XIII. 

LIMESTONES OF THE AUSTRIAN EMPIRE, DENMARK, SCANDINAVIA, 
AND THE POLAR REGIONS. 

AUSTRIA. 
Principal Limestone Formation. — Carpathian Range. — Bohemia. — Discoveries of 
Barrande. — Stone of Bilin. — Sprudelstone. — Transylvania Alps. — Dolomite Moun- 
tains, — Vienna Basin. — St. Cassian and Hallstatt Beds. — Fire-marble of Carinthia. 

— Predazzit 17a 

DENMARK. 
Prevalence of Cretaceous Rocks. — Terraine Danien. — Faxoe Limestone. — Corals of 

Zealand and Moen 176 

SCANDINAVIA. 
Oldest Parts of Europe. — Iron Mines. — Svi^edish Rocks. — Gothland Limestone. — 
Orthoceratite Marbles. — Porphyries. — Calcaire Primitif- — Silurian of Norway . . 177 

POLAR REGIONS. 
Fossils of Spitzbergen. — Shells of the Sea-bottom. — Coral Beds. — Fauna of the Kara 
Sea. — Mammoth of New Siberia. — Limestones of the North Coast. — Cosmic Dust. 

— Red Snow.— Northern Lights. 179 

CHAPTER XIV. 

LIMESTONES OF THE SPANISH PENINSULA AND ITALY. 

SPAIN AND PORTUGAL. 
Mountains of Spain. — Silurian Rocks. —7 Cretaceous Group. — Dolomite. — Seville. — 
Region of the Sierr^ Nevada. — Moorish Buildings. — Bone Breccias. — Gibraltar. ^- 
Spanish Marbles 181 

ITALY. 
The Apennines. — Age of Italian Rocks. — Verricano. — Statuary Marble. — Apuan 
Alps. — Red Ammonite. — Tertiary. — Biancone. — Venetian Alps. — Sub-Apen- 
nines. — Mountains of Tuscany. — Alberese. — Macigno. — Panchina, — Cretone. — 
Lake Como. — Hill of Superga. — Rome. — Works of Art. — Italian Marbles. — Gab- 
bro or Serpentine. — Travertine. — Gypsum. — Temple of Jupiter Serapis. — Fossils 
of Monte Bolca, — Italian Islands. —Limestones of Sicily and Sardinia. — Granites 
of Elba and Giglio. — Verde di Corsica. — Limestones of the Mediterranean . . , I84 



CONTENTS. XUl 



CHAPTER XV. 

LIMESTONES OF GREECE. — GREEK ART. 

Calcareous Conglomerates. — Its Great Extent. — Varieties of Limestones. — Mount 
Parnassus. — Attica. — Mount Pentelicus. — Mount Taygetus. — Rosso Antico. — 
Islands of Greece. — The Cyclades, — Island of Crete. — The Labyrinth. — Chios. — 
Santorin. — Eubcea. — The Sporades. -=- Grotto of Antiparos. — Excavations at My- 
cene. — Greek Marbles. — Greek Art . 20i 

CHAPTER XVI. 

LIMESTONES OF THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE AND CHINA. 

THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
Eozoic Rocks. — Palezoic Strata. — Timan Range. — Pleta Limestone. — Devonian 
System. — Carboniferous Rocks. — White Moscow Limestone. — Permian Rocks. — 
Russian Tovirns. — The Bogdo Hills. — Jurassic Series. — Cracow. — Cretaceous 
Formation. — Tertiary. — Steppe Limestone. — Elburz Mountains. — Ararat. — Cau- 
casus Mountains. — Salt Mines. — Ural Mountains. — Their Composition. — Lime- 
stones. — Demidoff Copper Mines. — Picturesque Scenery. — Siberia. — Marble of 
the Sugomac Mountain. — Aventurine. — Emperor Alexander. — Limestones of the 
South Ural. — The Bashkirs. — Iron Mines. — Metallurgy. — Productions of Siberia. 213 

CHINA. 

Altai Mountains. — Difficulty of Explorations. — Quartz of Mongolia. — Marbles and 
Gems. — " Rice Stones." — Loess Formation. — Mineral Districts 226 



CHAPTER XVII. 

LIMESTONES OF THE TURKISH EMPIRE. 

The Cretaceous and the Tertiary of European Turkey. — Meteores, — Limestones of the 
Marmora. — Hasm us Range. —Adriaiiople, — Thessaly, — Devonian Limestones — 
Works of Justinian. — Cities of Western Asia. — Brussa. — Gypseous Alabaster. — 
Taurus Mountains. — The Halys River. — Tertiary Deposits. — Lava Beds. — Phry- 
gia. — Ruins of Sardis. —Troy. — Ephesus. — Temple of Diana. — Smyrna. — Tra- 
vertine. —Antioch. — Libanus Mountains, — Baalbec. — Limestones of Palestine. — 
Jerusalem. — Ruined Cities of Palestine. — Valley of the Euphrates. — Its Renowned 
Cities. — Madin 22S 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

LIMESTONES OF ARABIA, PERSIA, AFGHANISTAN, BELOOCHISTAN, 

AND INDIA. 



Home of the Bedouin. — Limestones of Ormuz.— Their Classification.- Age of the 
Fossils. — Remains on the Island of Perim . . , 245 



XIV CONTENTS. 



PERSIA. 



Its Eventful History. — Natural Features. — Ormuz. — Mountains are largely Calca- 
reous. — Persia Poor in Monuments. — Ruins of Persepolis. — Antiquities of Mour- 
ghab. — Ruins of Shapoor. — Shiraz. — Magnificent Buildings of Ispahan. — Haroun 
al Raschid. — Urumiah. — Tabreez Marble 246 

AFGHANISTAN AND BELOOCHISTAN. 
Ancient Ariana. — Warlike Tribes. — Deserts. — Nummulitic Limestone. — Cretaceous 
Limestones. — Kandahar. — The Bolan Pass. — A Disastrous Retreat. — Lofty 
Escarpments. — Guznee, the Famous Capital. — Mahmud. — Tomb of Baber. — 
Table-land of Thibet. — Kuen-Lun Mountains 251 

INDIA. 
Rock Systems. — Regur, or Black Cotton Clay. — Kunker, a Typical Rock. — Laterite. 

— Rock Systems of Different Character. — Krol Formation. — Rocks of Sind. — 
The Punjab. — Valley of Cashmere. — Tertiary. — Its Fossil Mammalia. — The 
Himalayas. — Assam Range. — Volcano Puppa. — Diamond-bearing Rocks. — Lime- 
stones of Cutch. — Fossils of the Indian Pemnsula. — Movable Sand. — Madras. — 
Beds of Trichinopoly. — Volcanic Series. — The Deccan. — Mahratta Forts. — Bhima 
Formation. — Yadwood Limestones. — Caverns of India. — Edict Columns of Delhi. 

— Buddhist and Jain Temples. — The Mogul Emperors. — Hindoo' Architecture . . 254 



CHAPTER XIX. 

LIMESTONES OF JAPAN, AUSTRALIA, AND AFRICA. 

JAPAN. 
Its Natural Features. — Character of the Rocks, — Island of Yesso. — Hondo. — Meta- 
morphic Limestones, Marbles, and Quartz Crystals. — Temples and Pagodas. — 
The Loo Choo Group. — Their Metals 266 

AUSTRALIA. 
The Youngest Continent. —Australian Alps. — Rocks of nearly every Period. — Aurif. 
erous Quartz. — Different Limestone Formations. — Victoria. — Desert Sandstone. 
— Quaternian Breccia. — A Tertiary Sea. — Rocks of Sumatra, Tasmania, and New- 
Guinea 368 

AFRICA. 
Chalk Formation. — Marine Shells of Abyssinia. — Tertiary Remains of the Libyan 
Desert. — Ancient Egypt. — Egyptian Granite. — Quarries of Syene. — Colossal 
Monuments. — Sandstones. — Marble Country. — Cairo. — The Pyramids. — Egyp- 
tian Breccia. — Alabaster. — Antique Porphyry.— Algeria. — The Onyx Marble.— 
Tufa. — Limestones of Morocco, Tunis, and Fezzan. — West Africa, — Islands near 
theCoast. — Cape Verde 272 

CHAPTER XX. 

ANTIQUE MARBLES. 

Antique White Marbles. — Early use of Decorative Stones. — Antique Columns in 
Rome. — Superiority of Parian Marble. — Its Great Antiquity. —Description. — Other 
White Marbles used by the Ancients. — Colored Marbles, —Their Varieties Numer- 
ous.— Extensively employed by the Romans, — Derived from many Different Coun- 
tries.— Now found in the Ruins of Italian Cities 280 



CONTENTS. XV 



CHAPTER XXI. 

ANTIQUE ALABASTERS, SERPENTINES, BASALTS, GRANITES, AND 

PORPHYRIES. 

Alabasters. — Superior Excellence. — Oriental Alabaster. — Mentioned by the Earliest 
Writers. — Origin of the Name. — Uses of Alabaster. — Varieties. — Serpentines. — 
Different Species. — Nephrite. — Granites. — Four kinds of Antiques. — Granite 
Obelisks in Rome. — Porphyries. — Known by Several Names. — Original Quarries. 
— Varieties. — Lacedaemonian Stone 313 



CHAPTER XXn. 

ANTIQUE STONES AND WORKS OF ART IN MODERN ROME. 

Ornamental Stones used in Churches and Palaces. — Obtained from the Ruins. — Celeb- 
rity of the Vatican Museum. — Its Works of Art. — Description of the Rooms. — The 
Most Famous Sculptures. — The kind of Material in which they were Carved. — 
The Kircheriano Museum. — Its Origin and Sculptures. — Museum of the Capitol, — 
Its Collections 331 

CHAPTER XXIII. 

ANTIQUE STONES USED TO DECORATE ROMAN CHURCHES. 

Best studied in these Structures. — Seen in Large Masses, or covering Extensive 
Areas. — A few of the Most Celebrated Churches selected as Examples .... 347 



APPENDIX. 

A. Age and Locality of the Principal Limestones 355 

B. French Marbles 363 

C. Marbles or Great Britain and Ireland, Germany, etc 367 



LIMESTONES AND MARBLES. 



CHAPTER I. 

DIFFERENT CLASSES OF LIMESTONES. 

Limestones may be classified and named according to 
their difference of origin, fossils, age, structure, texture, color, 
uses, locality, and other distinctive features. Many of them 
are fragmental, consisting of particles broken from older 
strata and deposited as sediment, hence they are called sedi- 
mentary rocks. When changed from a sedimentary to a 
crystalline condition, they are said to be metamorphic. Lime- 
stones, when formed at the bottom of the sea, are called 
marine formations ; when deposited by the waters of lakes 
and rivers, fresh-water formations. They are crystalline 
when the carbonate of lime assumes the form of regular 
crystals. The crystallization may be of different kinds, coarse- 
grained, when the crystals are large and distinct ; or fine, 
with the appearance of loaf-sugar, when it is called saccha- 
roidal. A limestone is fossiliferous when it encloses organic 
remains, or the traces of organic remains, either vegetable or 
animal. A smooth, fine-grained limestone, of a dull or splint- 
ery fracture, is called compact, and when made up of angular 
pieces of rocks, either of the same or of different kinds, 
cemented by lime it is known as a breccia. Some of the most 
beautiful variegated marbles are of this class. A limestone 
composed of spheroidal masses, larger or smaller, passes 
under the name of concretionary. The terms " concretionary " 



2 LIMESTONES AND MARBLES. 

and " nodular " are used very indefinitely, sometimes as 
synonymous, and again as of different signification, even by 
the same writer. Concretions are formed of aggregations of 
matter around a centre, sometimes a shell or other foreign 
substance constituting the nucleus ; they may be solid or 
hollow, and of a concentric or radiated internal structure. 
When lined with crystals, they are called geodes. With con- 
cretions of the size of a pea, the limestone is called pisolitic ; 
and oolitic when the concretions are no larger than the roe 
of fishes. These small concretions are known to have several 
concentric coats, and are sometimes hollow, at other times 
enclosing minute particles. The Oolite makes a desirable 
building-stone, on account of its color and the facility with 
which it may be worked in any direction. 

Hydraulic limestone is used for the manufacture of hy- 
draulic lime ; bituminous or carbonaceous limestone is formed 
partly of decayed organic matter, and yields black marbles ; 
fetid limestone, when struck with a hammer, emits sulphuret- 
ted hydrogen, the result of the decomposition of animal sub- 
stances. 

Many fossiliferous limestones are designated by some typical 
shell, as Nummulitic, Gryphite, Orthoceratite ; other varieties 
are named for the place where they are specially developed, 
as Trenton, Eifel, Alpine ; while others are known by the 
geological period in which they were formed, as Carboniferous, 
Triassic, Jurassic. 

Some varieties of limestones consist of nearly pure car- 
bonate of lime, while others have a large admixture of foreign 
substances, as clay, sand, iron oxide, when they receive the 
distinctive appellation of argillaceous, siliceous, or ferruginous ; 
by a modification of their structure or texture they may be- 
come schistose, shaly, friable, or porous. Chalk is limestone 
of a friable texture. 

The difference in color is occasioned by the presence of 
foreign substances : limonite, or hydrous oxide of iron, im- 
parts a brown or brownish-yellow j glauconite, hydrous iron- 



DIFFERENT CLASSES OF LIMESTONES. 3 

silicate, colors different greens ; and red oxide of iron, the 
shades of red. Carbonaceous substances cause the blacks 
and deep-browns. Other minerals have contributed to the 
color of marbles and limestones, a quality upon which much 
of their beauty and value depend. 

Dolomite, or magnesian limestone, consists of the carbonate 
of magnesia united to the carbonate of .lime, but it does not 
differ materially in appearance from pure limestone, and 
sometimes can be distinguished from it only by chemical 
analysis. Dolomite does not so readily effervesce in acids, 
crumbles more easily, and is less compact, but is generally 
highly crystalline and often granular. The crystals are very 
small, yet distinct ; the rock presents the aspect of a fine 
sandstone. The colors range through shades of reddish- 
brown or yellow, white, gray, and black, and it varies in 
structure like common limestone, being sometimes concre- 
tionary, with nodules of the size of cannon balls : botryoidal, 
with concretions like clusters of grapes ;' and not unfrequently 
oolitic. Like pure limestone, dolomite is found in all geologi- 
cal periods, and is of continental extent, embracing a large 
part of the calcareous rocks of the globe, including many kinds 
of white statuary and colored architectural marbles. It was 
employed for antique sculpture^ to a considerable extent, 
though its composition is a modern discovery, made in 1791, 
by Dolomieu, a French geologist, for whom it was named. 
Dolomite often constitutes the veins and spots of variegated 
stones, as the yellow veins of the marble called Porto Venere, 
or the " black and gold " of marble-workers. It is extensively 
used in England for buildings, but is liable to decay in the 
moist and smoky atmosphere of that country, as may be 
seen in the Houses of Parliament, which were built of this 
stone. It is very abundant in Spain, and has been employed 
in the construction of Madrid; it is found in the United 
States and British America, where it is of considerable eco- 
nomical value for the excellent lime it affords. True dolomite 
has nearly the following chemical composition : carbonate of 



4 LIMESTONES AND MARBLES. 

lime, 54.35 ; carbonate of magnesia, 45.65 ; but these propor- 
tions vary in the dolomites of different localities on account 
of the presence of foreign substances. 

The Oolite,, the great Jurassic formation in Great Britain, 
including many varieties, is composed of small, round concre- 
tions composed of different substances cetaented by lime. It 
is soft and uniform in texture and of light colors, — white, 
gray, drab, and cream-color. 

In contrasting the Great Oolite with the Portland stone, 
both members of the Jurassic formation, Hull says that the 
former is especially adapted to the delicate chisellings of the 
Gothic style, while the latter is better fitted for the massive 
and more uniform structures of classic and Italian archi- 
tecture. 

The Caen stone, from the northern part of France, is a 
Jurassic limestone very generally used for interior decorations, 
for which it is unrivalled in color and texture. It is said to 
hold the same rank in architecture that is held by Carrara 
marble in sculpture. The quarries have been worked for 
centuries, and it is still in great demand for a building 
material. 

The Calcaire grossier of the Paris basin belongs to the Ter- 
tiary period, consequently is of more recent origin than the 
Jurassic limestones. The Eocene, or lower Tertiary, in Eng- 
land, includes the London basin, and appears again across the 
Channel throughout the valley of the Seine, constituting the 
most important formation of what is called the Paris basin. 
The strata of this basin are of both marine and fresh-water 
origin. 

The Calcaire grossier, employed in building, is of a light- 
buff color, particularly adapted to an atmosphere free from 
fog and smoke. Much of the beauty of Paris, where it is 
generally used, is due to the excellence of this stone for 
architectural purposes, its light and delicate tint imparting a 
fresh and cheerful aspect to the city. It has been used in the 
buildings of other cities with similar effect : Marseilles, Mont- 



DIFFERENT CLASSES OF LIMESTONES. 5 

pelier, Bordeaux, and Brussels in Belgium afford instances. 
The Louvre in Paris, and the cathedrals of Rouen and of 
Amiens are examples of edifices built of this limestone from 
the Paris basin. 

The quarries of the Calcaire grossier extend along the Seine 
and under a large part of Paris; it was quarried here for 
building from a very early period until the seventeenth cen- 
tury, but subsequently these caverns were used for burial 
places, and at the present time, the Catacombs, as they are 
called, form an intricate labyrinth under the city. 

The Nummulitic limestone receives its name from the coin- 
shaped Rhizopod, which constitutes a large part of the rock. 
Geologically it belongs to the middle Eocene, and is largely 
developed in southern Europe, Asia, and northern Africa. 
In Europe this formation extends over a large part of the 
Pyrenees, the Alps, constituting summits eleven thousand feet 
above the sea, the Apennines and the Carpathians. It ranges 
through Algiers, Morocco, Asia Minor, the Caucasus, Persia, 
the mountains of Afghanistan, India, on the southern slope of 
the Himalayas, sometimes attaining the height of 16,500 
feet in Western Thibet, and reaches to the borders of China ; 
it also occurs in the islands of Japan, Java, and the Philippines. 
It furnished material for some of the Pyramids, particularly 
that of Cheops, the Great Pyramid, which was built upon 
the native limestone, the four corner-stones set into the rocky 
mass constituting the foundation of the most remarkable 
structure ever erected. Nummulitic limestone was employed 
in the buildings of Baalbec, Aleppo, and some of the cities of 
the Holy Land, and was largely used as marble in Verona, 
Padua, and other cities of northern Italy. 

Travertine is a porous, concretionary limestone, formed by 
the precipitation of carbonate of lime held in solution by the 
waters of particular springs and streams. Among the most 
remarkable examples are those of Tivoli near Rome, and 
Gardner's River in the Yellowstone Park, Wyoming. The 
phenomena of Gardner's River present many interesting 



6 LIMESTONES AND MARBLES. 

features. The water in its descent has formed a series of 
parapets at different stages, enclosing beautifully ornamented 
basins, over the edges of which it falls, leaving a calcareous 
deposit in the form of exquisite sculptured decorations. The 
large masses of travertine at Tivoli, near the Arnio, Italy, 
were deposited in a lake which once occupied the spot. This 
stone was called by the ancient Romans Lapis Tibtirtinus, 
and it was used in early times, as it has been since, for build- 
ings in Rome and other Italian cities. It is white or light 
yellowish, sometimes with wavy lines ; soft when first quarried, 
but on exposure it becomes harder, and in the clear atmos- 
phere of Italy is very durable. The Emperor Augustus em- 
ployed travertine in connection with Carrara marble, to con- 
struct the architectural monuments which embellished ancient 
Rome. The exterior of the Colosseum, the Tomb of Hadrian, 
now the Castle of St. Angelo, the Quirinal Palace, St. Peter's 
of the Vatican, and the walls of nearly all the other churches 
of Rome are built of this stone. The travertine of Tivoli is 
a recent formation and affords beautiful pendants like stalac- 
tites. The walls of the deep chasm into which the water is 
precipitated, consist of thick beds four hundred or five hundred 
feet in depth, while a precipice with a sheer descent of four hun- 
dred feet has been formed under the temples of Vesta and the 
Sybil, with spheroids six or eight feet in diameter, consisting 
of thin concentric layers. The calcareous tufa, used for build- 
ing in Naples, is composed of a deposition of volcanic matter 
in a former bed of the sea, but it is inferior to that of Tivoli. 
Travertine is found in the ruins of Pompeii, and was used in 
the construction of the Temple of Paestum. A volcanic tufa, 
called Peperino, is a coarse, hard stone of a gray color, often 
enclosing small pebbles. 

Satin spar is a variety of fibrous limestone with a silky 
lustre, and is used for inlaid work ; it differs from the satin 
spar of gypsum in its superior hardness and readiness to yield 
to the action of acids. 

Agaric mineral, a very pure carbonate of lime, frequently 



Plate II. 




^ EUMONT, Reddish- Brown and White. 



■> 








? ■ • 







Tennessee, Dark. 



/RMSTROSB & Co. LlTH. BoiTO.1l 



DIFFERENT CLASSES OF LIMESTONES. 7 

passing into calcareous tufa, is white and soft, easily crumbles, 
and is sometimes deposited in caverns. 

Forest, ruin, or fortification marble is an argillaceous lime- 
stone, presenting when polished, representations of trees, 
ruins, temples, and fortifications, caused by the infiltration of 
oxide of iron, and is used with beautiful effect in mosaic work. 
•Alabaster. — There are two kinds of alabaster, calcareous 
and gypseous. True or Oriental alabaster is a carbonate of 
lime, Hke marble in its chemical properties, but differing from 
most marbles in origin, being produced by precipitation and 
not from organic and sedimentary deposits. It has a greater 
translucency than marble, and takes a fine polish, constituting 
one of the most agreeable ornamental stones, ranking next to 
gems ; it was extensively used for decoration by the ancients. 
A very white, translucent alabaster was used in Assyria for 
the sculptures in bas-relief, taken by Mr. Layard from the 
supposed palace of Sennacherib, whose reign has been assigned 
to about 700 B. C, and deposited in the British Museum. 

The beautiful onyx marble of Mexico is a calcareous ala- 
baster, similar to the ancient and modern onyx marble of 
Algeria, extensively used in France for ornamental purposes 
since the quarries were rediscovered. 

The name alabaster has been given to massive gypsum, a 
hydrous sulphate of lime, a stone much softer than calcareous 
alabaster ; when highly crystalline and translucent it is called 
Selenite; when fibrous it becomes the satin spar used in 
making ornaments. 

Gypsum occurs in most formations from the Silurian to the 
Tertiary, but is most abundant in the Triassic and Carbon- 
iferous beds. It is quite largely developed in some parts of 
England, and is found in many other countries to a greater or 
less extent. The principal gypsum quarries of France, from 
which the stone is obtained that affords the best plaster of 
Paris, are at Montmartre, near Paris. Beds of limestone are 
sometimes changed into gypsum by the penetration of water 
charged with sulphuric acid. 



8 LIMESTONES AND MARBLES. 

Serpentines. — Though serpentine is not a limestone, yet 
for decorative uses it is classed with marbles, and for the 
beauty and vivacity of its colors, the excellent polish it receives, 
and the facility with which it is worked, it holds an important 
rank among ornamental stones. In a pure state it is a hydrous 
silicate of magnesia, but it is never truly crystalline, and when 
crystals do occur they are pseudomorphs, or those which have 
borrowed the crystalline form from other minerals. Massive 
serpentine is frequently mixed with dolomite, calcite, and 
other substances, and is compact, not granular, but sometimes 
fibrous and greasy to the touch. There are several varieties, 
dependent on structure, as massive, lamellar, foliated, and 
fibrous. It is a metamorphic rock, developed in all the older 
geological formations, and distributed quite generally through- 
out the countries of both hemispheres. 

Serpentines used for ornamental purposes are selected for 
their rich and beautiful colors, including different shades of 
green to yellow, white, red, brown, and even black ; they are 
often brilliant with crystals of diallage, mica, and calcite. 
Noble serpentine is translucent and usually of a light yellow- 
ish-green. 

The celebrated Verde antique marble, or Ophiolyte, is ser- 
pentine combined either with magnesia or carbonate of lime ; 
the Vermont Verde antique is said to have no lime, or less 
than the European, and is harder, fine-grained, and compact, 
with great crushing power. 

The serpentine of the Vosges mountains encloses diallage, 
olivine, iron, and garnets, of various colors from blood-red to 
green. 

It is very abundant in France, and yields many fine varieties. 
The Moors of Spain employed the serpentine of the Sierra 
Nevada for decorating their remarkable buildings, and it is 
proved that the ancient Romans used it for the same purpose, 
since it is found in the ruins of their cities. 

The most ancient serpentine, geologically, is the Laurentian 
of Canada, said to enclose the Eozoon Canadense, the earliest 
known fossil. 



DIFFERENT CLASSES OF LIMESTONES. Q 

Metamorphism. — Since this term has been used in connec- 
tion with limestones it needs some explanation. As employed 
in geology, it is applied to the change of sedimentary rocks into 
a crystalline state, as limestone into marble. The process has 
sometimes been called *'plutonic," from the supposition that 
it occurred in the depths of the earth. The causes of meta- 
morphism are, perhaps, not very well understood, but the 
agents are thought to be heat, water, and pressure as a 
secondary cause, with alkalies, and perhaps some other sub- 
stances. Water alone at 752° Fahr. reduces nearly all rocks 
to a paste, and its solvent power is greatly increased by the 
presence of alkali. The amount of heat required to melt rock 
material without water is from 2,000° to 3,000° ; with water 
and alkali combined, it requires only from 300° to 400°. 

It is generally admitted that the interior of the earth, 
though solid, is in a heated condition, and the great mass of 
sedimentary strata is penetrated by water from above and by 
heat from beneath, which combine to produce certain mole- 
cular changes and chemical reactions resulting in crystalliza- 
tion. This change in great masses of rocks takes place far 
below the surface, but many of the metamorphosed rocks have 
been brought within the sphere of observation by the denuding 
power of water, or by some violent internal disturbance. 
There may have been a long period between the formation of 
a rock from sediments and its crystallization, and it is prob- 
able that metamorphism is going on continually in the buried 
sedimentary strata. 

That some crystalline rocks contain fossils, seems to indi- 
cate that a high degree of heat was not always essential to 
metamorphism, otherwise all traces of organic remains would 
be obliterated, as they are, to a great extent, in altered strata. 

Caverns. — '■ Water possesses great dissolving properties, 
especially when containing carbonic acid, and becomes a 
powerful agent in disintegrating rocks, as has been stated ; it 
produces a marked effect upon limestone, eroding compact 
masses, often leaving immense cavities ; and sometimes the 



10 LIMESTONES AND MARBLES. 

work of erosion is expedited by the addition of other acids, as 
sulphuric, and those formed by decomposed organic remains. 
Besides these chemical agents, sand and pebbles, borne along 
by subterranean rivers, and igneous disturbances, have, in 
some instances, contributed a mechanical force in rock de- 
struction, and assisted in the formation of those wonderful 
and beautiful subterranean palaces which seem like the weird 
and grotesque phantasms of dreams. 

Caverns occur in nearly all countries, and though generally 
found in limestone formations, they sometimes exist in other 
rocks, as, in granite, in Norway and Sweden ; in lava, in 
France and Iceland, and in porphyry, near Quito. Among 
the best known caverns are the Mammoth Cave in Kentucky, 
the largest explored ; Wier's Cave in Virginia ; Adelsberg, in 
Carniola, Austria ; Antiparos, in Greece ; Elephanta and 
Ellora, in India. A large number of others are known, and 
the discovery of new caverns is of frequent occurrence. 

Stalactites and stalagmites, found in limestone caves, are 
formed in the following manner : The water from the strata 
above, charged with carbonic acid, percolating the superin- 
cumbent mass, finally reaches the limestone, some of which 
it dissolves, holding the lime in solution. A part of this lime 
is deposited on the roof of the cave, while another drop of 
water trickles down, leaving its stolen particle of lime beside 
its companion. The process is continued age after age, until 
the deposit assumes the form of a pendant stalactite of greater 
or less size. Returning to the first drop of water, which 
deposited only a portion of the lime on the roof, let us follow 
its course. It reaches the floor of the cavern, where it leaves 
the remainder of its plunder, followed by succeeding drops, 
which distribute a part of the lime to the work on the roof, 
and a part to that on the floor, until the stalagmite is built 
up, often joining its kindred stalactite above, "the two united 
making a complete column. If the water follows fissures in 
the roof, the stalactites and stalagmites, when meeting, form 
sheets, as in Wier's Cave, where they are so thin as to become 
translucent, and when struck, produce a ringing sound. 



DIFFERENT CLASSES OF LIMESTONES. II 

The deposits in caverns assume a great variety of forms, 
some grotesque, others quite perfect imitations of various 
objects. They are of different colors, pure white, yellow, or 
gray, according to the presence and nature of foreign sub- 
stances. Fossils are sometimes found in stalactites, as the 
latter will form around any -object left on the floor. 

The stalactites of Ball's Cave, in New York, are of the 
purest white. In the recently-discovered cavern of Big Salt- 
petre, in Missouri, which is thought to rival the Mammoth 
Cave in size, the beautiful spar assumes a great diversity of 
figures. The Cave of Adelsberg is remarkable for the variety 
of its stalactites, some of which represent curtains, and some 
columns, arranged as trees in a forest, while others form long 
colonnades, verandas, and cascades. 

A new cave was discovered, in August, 1878, in Paige 
County, Virginia, and named Luray Cavern. It was at first 
supposed to be in the Sub-carboniferous strata, a formation in 
which many remarkable caverns have been found, but it has 
since been referred to the Silurian. In this region the lime- 
stone has been fissured, and the seams filled with various 
minerals which have served for coloring matter. The lime- 
stone is partly magnesian, very fine grained, with color vary- 
ing from light brown to deep blue and black, traversed by 
veins of white spar. The strata are folded and wrinkled, 
hence the cave does not afford the immense domes, rooms, 
avenues, and navigable rivers found in some other caverns, 
where the limestone is horizontal and homogeneous. The 
interior of Luray Cavern is divided into a large number of 
rooms, of different dimensions ; corridors, galleries, amphi- 
theatres of immense magnitude, brilliant with stalactites of 
different hues, columns of all shapes and sizes, transparent 
curtains, and a hundred other subterranean marvels sculptured 
by the hand of Nature. One enchanting room, covered by a 
dome supported by columns with walls of green and orange, 
and ceiling of the whiteness of snow, would seem, from the 
description given by an eye-witness, to have sprung into 



12 LIMESTONES AND MARBLES. 

being at the touch of some magician's wand. A flight of 
stairs in the solid rock descends thirty feet to a series of 
apartments, in which are different simulated forms, some 
fanciful, others majestic ; here is seen a petrified cascade, 
there a garden of alabaster flowers ; alabaster pillars shooting 
upwards, graceful drapery frozen into stone : some objects 
are pure as snow, others are of translucent brown with agate 
bands, and one fluted column of pure white marble, of the 
finest grain, is thirty feet high. 

It is said to be diflicult to determine the size of cavernous 
rooms from sight merely, for the reason that it is not easy to 
produce sufficient illumination to judge with accuracy; there 
being no particles floating about to reflect the rays, the tend- 
ency is to exaggerate the magnitude of subterranean objects 
and space. Making due allowance for this fact, and for the 
effect which these magical structures have upon the imagina- 
tion, they are still among the most wonderful productions of 
nature which diversify our globe. 



CHAPTER 11. 

FOSSILS. 

Classification of Fossils found in Calcareous Strata, 

The following synopsis of organic remains does not include 
all genera found in calcareous rocks, but those that are most 
characteristic and best known, and that have contributed 
most largely to their structure. 



Cryptogams. 



Algae, or Sea-weed. 



Vegetable Kingdom. 

Campylodiscus (a Diatom). 
Coccoliths (seed-stone). 
Corallines (having jointed stems). 
Desmids. ) 

Diatoms (siliceous). \ Pr°tophytes. 
Fucoids (leathery sea-weed). 
Nullipores (without pores). 
Charae (calcareous). 
- Gaillonella (siliceous). 



Protozoans. 

Sponges. 

Regarded also as 
forming the Sub- 
kingdom Porifera. 

Infusoria. 



Animal Kingdom. 

I. Sub-Kingdom. 

Receptaculite. 
Stromatopora. 
Scyphia. 
Siphonia. 
. Ventriculite. 

\ Both plants and animals. 



]■ Sponge, or Rhizopod. 



13 



14 LIW 


[ESTONES AND MARBLES. 




' Amphistegina (found in the Vienna Basin). 




Fusilina. Orbitolites. 


Rhizopods ; 


Globigerina. Orbulina. 


including 
Foraminifers 


Nummulina. Peneroplis. 


Orbitoides. Textularia. 


and 


Orbitolina. 


Radiolaria. 


Polycystines (siliceous Foraminifers). 




2. Sub-Kingdom, 


Radiates. 




Polyps, or 


Acervularia. 


Zoophytes. 


Actinia (Sea-anemone). 




Alveolites. 




Astrsea. 




Calceola (doubtful). * 




Columnaria (basaltic form). 




Favosites (honeycomb coral). 


Polyps include Ac- 


Gorgonia (sea-fan). 


tinoid and Alcyo- ' 


Halysites (chain-coral). 


noid Corals. 


Lithostrotion. 




Madrepora (branching coral). The Madre- 




pores include many species. 




Meandrina (brain-coral). 




Syringopora. 




Strombodes (cup-coral, Cyathophylloid). 




Tubipora (organ-pipe coral). 




Zaphrentis (cup-coral, Cyathophylloid). * 


Acalephs. 


^ Chaetetes. (?) 


Hydroids. 


Graptolites (allied to Sertularia). 
. Millepores. 


Echinoderms 


r 


include Cystoids. 


Cystids (bladder-shaped). 




Comatula (Feather-star). 


Crinoids, having 


Crinid, or Encrinite. 


stems. 


Marsupite. 




Pentacrinus. 


Blastoids. 


Pentremites. 





FOSSILS. 




Asteroids. •] Asteria (Star-fish). 






• Cidaris. 




Echinoids. 


Echinus. 
Hemicidaris, 
^ Spatan^us. 

3. Sub-Kingdom, 




Molhisks. 


' 




Molluscoidea, or 






Brachiate MoUusks. < 






Br}'ozoans, or 


Archimedes. 


Flustra. 


Polyzoans. 


. Fenestella* 


Retepora. 




'■ Athyris. 


Orthis. 




Atr)'pa. 


Pentamerus- 




Chonetes. 


Producta. 


Brachiopods. 
Bivalves. 


Crania. 
Discina. 


Rhynchonella. 

Spirifer. 




Leptsna. 


Stringocephalus 




Lingula. 


Strophomena. 




Obolella. 


Terebratula. 




- Obolus. 


■ Waldheimia. 


MoUusks Proper. 


' Anomia. 


Cyprina. 




Area. 


Cyrena. 




Astarte. 


Cytherea. 




Avicula. 


Diceras. 




Aviculapecten. 


Donax. 




Caprina. 


Exog}Ta. 


Acephals. 


Caprotina. 


Gervillia. 


(Lamellibranchs.) 


Cardiola. 


Grammysia. 


Bivalves. 


Cardium. 


Gryphaea. 




Cardita. 


Haploscapha. 




Chama. 


Hippurite. 




Chiton. 


Inoceramus. 




Conocardium. 


Lima. 




Corbis. 


Lithodomus. 




Crassatella. 


Lucina. 




. Cyclas. 


Mactra. 



15 



i6 



LIMESTONES AND MARBLES. 



MoUusks Proper. 


Modiola. 


Posidonomya. 




Modiolopsis. 


Radiolite. 




Myrtilus. 


Saxicava. 




Nucula, or Leda. 


Solen. 




Orthonota. 


Spherulite. 


(Lamellibranchs.) 


Ostrea. 


Spondylus. 


Bivalves. 


Pandora. 


Tellina. 




Pecten. 


Teredina. 




Pentunculus. 


Trigonia. 




Perna. 


Unio. 




Pholas. 


Venus. 




L Pinna. 


Venericardia. 


Cephalates. 


r 




Univalves. 


Conularia. 




- 
Pteropods. 


Hyalea. ) ^^ ,. 
Theca. JHyohtes. 

■ Tentaculite. 






' Ampullaria. 


Melania. 




Ancillaria. 


Mitra. 




Ancylus. 


Murex. 




Buccinum. 


Murchisonia. 




Bellerophon. 


Nassa. 




Beloptera. 


Natica. . 




Bulla. 


Nerinaea. 




Cancellaria. 


Nerita. 




Cassis. 


Neritina. 




Cerithium. 


Oliva. 


Gasteropods. ^ 


Chiton. 


Ovula. 




Conus. 


Paludina. 




Cypraea. 


Planorbis. 




Euomphalus. 


Pleurotoma. 




Fusus. 


Pleurotomaria. 




Harpa. 


Pupa. 




Helix. 


Purpura. 




Litorina. 


■physa. 




Litorineiia. 


Pterocera. 




Lymnea. 


Pyrula. 




- Maclurea. 


Rostellaria. 



^ 



FOSSILS. 



17 





' Scalaria. 


Turbo. 




Solarium. 


Turritella. 


Gasteropods. 


S trombus. 


Voluta. 




Terebra. 


Vermetus. 




. Trochus. 






' Ammonite. 


Hamite. 


Cephalopods. 


Ancyloceras. 


Lituite. 




Bacculite. 


Nautilus. 




Belemnite. 


Orthoceras. 


Dibranchiata. 


Belemnitella. 


Scaphite. 


Tetrabranchiata. 


Ceratite. 


Sepia. 




Clymenia. 


Spirula. 




Crioceras. 


Toxoceras. 




Cyrtoceras. 


Turrilite. 




Goniatite. 






4. Sub-Kingdom. 




Articulates, 


' Cancer (crabs). 






Cypris, or Daphne 


(Ostracoides, bivalves) 


Crustaceans. 


Limulus. 
^Trilobites. 




Worms. 


Serpula (having calcareous tubes). 



DESCRIPTION OF FOSSILS. 

Many limestones are largely made up of organic remains, 
and some knowledge of these remains is important in the 
study of fossiliferous rocks. 

Lyell defines a fossil to be "any organic body, animal or 
vegetable, or the traces of any body, which has been buried 
in the earth by natural causes." Fossils afford unequivocal 
proof that the land and sea of former geological periods 
teemed with living beings, and the remains they have left are 
of vast importance in determining the age of strata. 



1 8 LIMESTONES AND MARBLES. 

Though other fossils are sometimes enclosed in limestones, 
testacea and corals are the most characteristic, and have con- 
tributed most largely to the beauty and value of marbles. 
Often entire masses of rock are composed of aggregations of 
shells, more especially of the lower animals, which, says Dana, 
are the best rock-makers, because they consist very largely of 
calcareous matter. 

Fossil shells are found in strata in different conditions : i. 
When the substance has not been changed. 2. When the 
form of the shell is preserved, but the substance petrified ; as 
in limestone it assumes the appearance of calc spar. 3. When 
fossils have left casts or impressions. 

To understand the language of geology in regard to fossils, 
a general knowledge of the classification of the animal king- 
dom is necessary. 

Most naturalists arrange all living creatures, according to 
their structure, in five divisions or sub-kingdoms, namely, 
Protozoans, Radiates, Mollusks, Articulates, and Vertebrates. 

PROTOZOANS. 

These "first animals" are mostly microscopic, and include 
Sponges, Infusoria, and Rhizopods, or animals with " root-like 
feet." The sponges are regarded by some naturalists as 
forming a sub-kingdom called Porifera. 

Sponges. — Fossil sponges are numerous in the Cretaceous 
period, sometimes constituting entire layers of rocks, and are 
found in calcareous strata, as in the Kentish Rag and Portland 
stone, and in flint and pebbles. Sponges are regarded as 
compound animals of different forms, cup-shaped, tubular, 
branched, and others, and some are borers, penetrating shells 
and even solid rock. 

The earlier paleontologists classed them as Alcyoniae, which 
were described as animals assuming vegetable forms either 
fleshy, gelatinous, or spongy. A species with a finely-reticu- 
lated structure is popularly called " I)ead man's fingers," and 
another species shows a curious instinct for enveloping the 



I 



Plate III. 




" iivt ^-' iirrr"-nrr"T 




Vermont, Gray Shell. 




LUMACHBLLA NeRA. 



Ahm*tro!«o k Co. LiTa. Boitom. 



FOSSILS. ig 

Nerita, a small Gasteropod found in the chalk of northern 
Italy. A peculiar sponge resembling a cucumber is found in 
a dense, siliceous limestone of an ash-gray and straw color. 

Rhizopods. — These animals, called Foraminifera, because 
their shells are perforated by pores, and important in the for- 
mation of calcareous rocks, began their existence at the dawn 
of animal life, and are found in the deposits of modern seas. 

The genus Orbulina has only one globular cell while the 
Nummulite presents a succession of cells or chambers divided 
by transverse septa, and varies from a size nearly microscopic 
to one and one half inches in diameter ; the colors are white, 
shades of brown, red, and bluish. 

The Fusilina, a univalve allied to the Nummulite, resembles 
a grain of wheat, and was abundant in some countries in the 
Carboniferous age. The fossil Receptaculite has been called a 
Rhizopod, though it resembles a Coral in some of its character- 
istics. It is the predominant fossil in the Receptaculite lime- 
stone of Missouri, and is found in the German Eifel and other 
foreign calcareous deposits. 

RADIATES. 

This sub-kingdom comprises animals with a radiated struc- 
ture, or parts arranged around a centre like the petals of a 
flower. They include Polyps, Acalephs, and Echinoderms. 

Polyps. — These have a cylindrical body with a mouth at one 
extremity, and are permanently united at the base; when 
stony, they are called corals, which are only aggregated polyps. 
The framework is secreted by the animal tissues as bones are, 
and not by "the conscious power" of the polyps. The 
Actinoid polyps form ordinary corals, and the Alcyonoid 
polyps, the Gorgonia and Alcyonium corals ; the red variety 
used in jewelry is the stem or axis of the Alcyonoid. Some 
of the most valuable limestones and the most beautiful 
marbles were formed entirely or partly by polyps, the most 
ingenious and indefatigable rock-builders in existence, whose 
constructive powers are constantly in active operation. 



20 LIMESTONES AND MARBLES. 

Not until the beginning of the eighteenth century was the 
true character of the Coral understood. Some naturahsts 
previous to that time placed it with plants, others ascribed to 
it a dual nature, partly animal and partly vegetable, while a 
third class held that it was made by the polyp, somewhat as a 
bee constructs its comb. 

Corals, says Dana, are made by four different organisms : 
I. Polyps, the chief architects of coral reefs. 2. The Hydroids 
forming the corals called Millepores, on account of the minute 
cells seen covering the surface. Some of the Graptolites — 
feather stone — named from its plumose appearance, are prob- 
ably inclucled in this class. They are prevalent in the older 
rock strata, particularly in the Quebec group. 3. Bryozoans 
— moss animals — called by this name from the moss-like 
coral they secrete. Algae, plant-corals which produce cal- 
careous secretions, as Corallines with jointed stems, Nullipores 
without cells, and Coccolrths — seed-like stones. Nullipores 
are very solid and strong; Corallines are more delicate, and 
broken up, form thick calcareous deposits. 

The Actinoid polyps, which secrete the ordinary coral, are 
exceedingly curious and interesting. The genus Actinia, or 
Sea-anemone, includes animals with a sub-cylindrical body 
and a disk at the top, with radiated structure internally and 
externally. Its stomach can be distended to swallow its prey, 
which it seizes with its myriad arms, thrown out with the 
rapidity of lightning. Actinoids vary in color and size, and 
are propagated by ova or buds. 

The Zoophytes — plant animals — or polyps, form groups or 
compound animals from one germ, each polyp, however, 
having a separate mouth, stomach, and tentacles. When any 
portion of the coral is broken off, their vital energy is such 
that they can restore the lost fragment, which also has the 
power of becoming a new zoophyte. 

Ordinary corals are largely calcareous, containing from 
ninety-five to ninety-eight per cent of lime, and form immense 
beds of hard, compact limestone, frequently constituting 
entire islands or atolls. 



FOSSILS. 21 

The growth of coral reefs is exceedingly slow, not more, it 
is believed, than five feet in i,ooo years, therefore at that rate, 
some of the Pacific Ocean reefs must have required hundreds 
of thousands of years to attain their present size ; shell lime- 
stone deposits were of still slower growth, because corals are, 
to a large extent, calcareous. The great depth of coral for- 
mations is due to the gradual subsidences of the land upon 
which they grew. 

The author of "Corals and Coral Islands" says that such 
islands are really monuments erected over departed lands, 
and, by the evidence of these records, it has been discovered 
that the Pacific has its deep-water mountain chains, or lines 
of volcanic summits, thousands of miles in length, as the 
Hawaiian Islands, which extend under water 2,000 miles. The 
Coral island subsidence has a length of more than 6,000 miles 
and a breadth of 2,500, but had there been no growing coral 
the history of this subsidence would have passed into oblivion. 

There are evidences that this process is still going on, and 
that not subsidences only, biit elevations, are occurring, some 
islands having already reached a height of 600 feet above sea 
level. 

The Coral reef at the Loo Choo Islands, east of China, is 
thus described : When the rock has been left dry for some 
time, it appears to be a hard, compact, rugged mass, but as the 
sea washes over it the polypi protrude themselves from holes 
before invisible. They are of a great variety of shapes, colors, 
and sizes, and in so prodigious numbers that in a short time 
the rock appears to be alive and in motion until the water 
ceases to cover it, when the animals die. 

The islands of the Polynesian Archipelago were formed of 
corals, and in the Indian Ocean, southwest of Malabar, one 
chain of reefs and islets has been built up extending 480 
geographical miles, another 700, and a third 600 miles. It 
has been stated that the whole bed of the Red Sea is a sub- 
marine garden of exquisite verdure, interspersed with various 
species of Sponges, Corals, and shells in luxuriant abundance. 



22 LIMESTONES AND MARBLES. 

The fauna of the Red Sea is different from that of the 
Mediterranean, being essentially calcareous. In 1869, 
McAndrew and Fielding found in this sea, more than 800 
species of Mollusks, numerous Echinoderms, Corals, and Crus- 
taceans. Upwards of 350 species of the Mollusks had not 
been known before their discovery, as inhabitants of the Red 
Sea, while 53 species and three genera were new to science. 

The varieties of Corals are numerous, but will not be here 
mentioned with the exception of some families and genera 
entering into the composition of limestones and marbles. 

The Cyathophyllum, composed of two words meaning cup 
and leaf, is the name of a family called "cup-corals," which 
began in the Lower Silurian and disappeared in the Per- 
mian period. They are often of large size; some Cyatho- 
phylloids of the Devonian age have been found six or seven 
inches across the top. These fossils, abundant in the Cornif- 
erous period, are enclosed in some of the most beautiful 
marbles of Devonshire, England. 

The Favosites, or honeycomb coral, belonging to the 
Madrepores or ''branching" group, originated in the Lower 
Silurian, attained their climax in the Devonian, and disappeared 
in the beginning of the Sub-carboniferous, according to Dana ; 
but Mantell says they are found in the Jurassic limestone. 

The Lithostrotion was named by Da Costa from lithostron, 
pavement, because these fossils were supposed to exist in 
loose masses in the strata of other rocks like a mosaic 
pavement. 

The columns have five, six, or seven sides, are frequently 
one inch in diameter, and when cut transversely present the 
interstertial appearance of a spider's web. One species pre- 
sents a columnar structure, and another is floriform, having 
the appearance of clusters of flowers. The Lithostrotion is 
abundant in the Carboniferous era, and yields a variety of 
beautiful marbles, generally of an ash-gray. 

The Tubipore, called Tubiporite in a fossil state, is an organ- 
pipe coral, resembling the living Tubipora musica. Tubipores 



FOSSILS. 23 

enclosed in a marble of Derbyshire, give to the rock a red- 
dish tint, while a limestone of the Mendip Hills and a black 
marble of Wales enclose white varieties of this fossil. 

The Halysites — chain-coral — resembles a series of links 
forming a chain, and is enclosed in the Eifel limestone. 

The Meandrina — brain-coiiral — is marked by foldings like 
the convolutions of the brain, and is found in the West Indies 
frequently from ten to fifteen feet in diameter. 

One kind of madrepore is proliferous, sending out a fresh 
series of stars from the centre disk of previously existing ones. 

The Madrepora turbinata is a top-like fossil varying from 
the size of a bean to three or four inches, and is seen in a rare 
marble of Blankenburg. 

Another species, called the Porpital or shirt -button madre- 
pore, affords a beautiful variety consisting of transparent, 
calcareous spar, enclosed in a limestone of Gothland, a region 
abounding in coral. 

A beautiful variety of stellated madrepore exists in Transyl- 
vania, in which the stars form separate cylinders with elevated 
margins. 

Parkinson mentions a fossil coral named the Spider's stone, 
supposed to be the production of spiders, which was formerly 
used as a charm against some diseases ; it is called by this 
author the Madrepora arachnoides, and is found in a light- 
brown limestone of Wiltshire. 

The Madrepora truncata, with cup-shaped body and stellated 
surface, is enclosed in the blue limestone of Sweden and the 
M. stellaris with stars of numerous rays is found in Gothland. 

This variety at Steeple Ashton, England, is exceedingly 
curious in regard to the manner of its growth. 

When the lowest terrace of the polypean town was covered 
with dwellings, a colony began a settlement on a more elevated 
area, until several new terraces, one above another, were all 
occupied by the teeming population ; when the highest site 
was fully covered, the enterprising denizens constructed 
castles in the clouds, by throwing into the air perpendicular 



24 LIMESTONES AND MARBLES. 

structures which assumed graceful forms of foliage, and upon 
these the little ambitious creatures built their star-shaped 
dwellings. 

An organ-pipe coral, probably one of the Syringopora, with 
tubes joined by membranes, is found in a fossil state on the 
shores of the Baltic, and another species, enclosed in the blue 
limestone of Sweden, is similar to that found in St. Vincent's 
rock, a dull pinkish marble, near Bristol, England. 

A coral with stars varying in number, composed of pale 
yellow spar, is seen in a fine, compact, light-brown marble 
found in Switzerland and Sardinia, and another species in 
which silica has replaced the coral, forming a semi-pellucid, 
flint-like rock, similar to the Indian agate, affords beautiful 
marble of different shades of gray tinged with red ; a variety 
of this species is called in Wiltshire, England, Feather-stone, 
on account of its plumose appearance. 

A reed-like coral, composed of small Zoophytes, occurs in a 
British marble, with a reddish-brown foundation and light- 
colored fossils. 

The Black Kilkenny is a coral marble with rather large, 
white, or light-gray fossils, the beautiful black color being 
partly due to animal charcoal. 

The Chaetetes, classed both with Corals and Acalephs, 
occurs in strata from the Lower Silurian to the Permian, often 
in solid masses forming hemispheres, and the Columnaria, a 
basaltic coral, predominant in the Black Riv^r Hmestone, is 
often found in enorftious masses. 

The Stromatopora, also classed with Protozoans, is a massive 
coral with very small pores, and is thought to be allied to the 
Eozoon ; it occurs in the Eifel and other Paleozoic limestones. 

Acalephs. — The second class of Radiates is the Acalephs, or 
nettle-animals, and includes jelly-fishes with a body nearly 
transparent which, in this state, are seldom found in strata, 
but a polyp-like species called Hydroids, is very common as 
fossils. 

Echinoderms. — Of this class of Radiates, receiving their 



FOSSILS. 25 

name on account of their spines, — skin like a hedgehog, — 
Crinoids are very numerous and important in limestone strata. 
They are arranged in three families : Crinids or Encrinites, 
lily-shaped ; Blastids, bud-shaped ; and Cystids, bladder-shaped. 

The Encrinites — flower animals — are furnished with arms 
extending from a disk, and a stem, as a means of support or 
attachment to the bottom of the sea, which consists of a series 
of rings either oval or circular, and when separated are called 
Trochites, wheel-shaped. These rings have been called by 
different names according to their fancied resemblance to some 
object, as beads, raystones, coin of St. Boniface, petrified 
giants' tears, cheese-stones, mill-stones, bushel-measure, barrel- 
measure, wheel-stones, screw-stones, pulley-stones, fairy-stones, 
and St. Cuthbert's beads. 

When these bones form a column they are styled Entrochi, — 
in a wheel, — and often form the principal constituent of 
Entrochal marbles. Trochites, forming beautiful varieties of 
marble, consist of a sparry substance with flat or convex 
surfaces of various markings, with a central opening like a 
bead ; the markings are in the form of rays diverging from 
a centre, and sometimes the margins are crenated. The 
colors vary, ranging through white, yellow, gray, greenish, 
reddish-brown, and pale red. The Lily encrinite, Encrinus 
■liliiformis, is very curious and remarkable. When the flower 
is unfolded the arms are divided into what may be called 
hands, with two fingers each, and from the hands are extended 
articulated tentacles, the whole capable of folding up like a 
lily. The number of bones in a single individual of this 
species is said to be from 26,000 to 27,000. Limestones 
enclosing portions of the Lily encrinite are very generally dis- 
tributed in many countries, but it is not usual to find the 
fossil entire except in the Muschelkalk of Germany, which 
yields a harvest of Sea-lilies, either intact or in fragments. 
The species of Encrinites are numerous, to which have been 
applied peculiar names to designate some quality, usually 
the form, as Pear encrinite, dark-gray and purple, forming 



26 LIMESTONES AND MARBLES. 

a variety of marble ; Nave encrinite, so called from its resem- 
blance to the hub of a wheel with arms thrown out like spokes, 
found in France and Germany; Tortoise, Straight, Bottle, 
Clove, Stag's-Horn, and some others. The Clove species has 
been found in great abundance in Zurich and Schaffhausen, 
Switzerland. 

The Pentacrinites are those Crinoids which have pentagonal 
stems and five bases, and arms divided into innumerable 
smaller branches, giving them a plumose appearance. The 
separate bones of the pedicel, which correspond to the Trochites 
of the Encrinites, have sometimes been called " star stones." 
They are flat, and ornamented with a star of five rays corre- 
sponding to the five sides. A species which Parkinson 
designates "Briarean," very abundant in Great Britain, is 
characterized by vertebral processes extending from every 
part of the stem, and perhaps resembled the Caput Medusa. 
Mantell says the Pentacrinite contains more than 150,000 
joints or bones. 

These fossils are prevalent on Lassington Hill, near Glouces- 
ter, England, where they are called Lassington stones ; as 
they are often found about brooks, they have sometimes sug- 
gested names for streamlets, as ''Fairy-stone Brook." Some 
writers include Encrinites and Pentacrinites in one genus. 

The Blastids or Bud-Crinoids, according to Dana, have 
an ovoidal body without arms, and five petal-like plates meet- 
ing at the top, resembling the folded leaves of a bud. Mantell 
calls the Pentremite a pear-shaped Encrinite, forming a link 
between the Sea-lily and the Sea-urchin. They are numerous 
in a limestone of Kentucky and in the Carboniferous lime- 
stone of Illinois, called Pentremital limestone. 

The Comatula Crinoids — resembling hair — are not attached 
by a pedicel, while one curious genus, the Saccocoma, has a 
purse-shaped body with jointed, spiny arms or tentacles, 
arranged like coils of hair, which may not inaptly be compared 
to purse-strings. The name is derived from saccus, purse, 
and coinuy hair. 



FOSSILS. 27 

Crinoids began in the Primordial period and extend through 
a large part of geological history, but were in the most 
flourishing condition in Paleozoic time, especially in the Car- 
boniferous period, during which enormous limestone strata 
were deposited. 

The Echinite or fossil Echinus is one of the most common 
of the Echinoderms, which are very numerous in the Chalk 
formation ; the genus Cidaris is prevalent in the Oolite of 
Calne, England. 

MOLLUSKS. 

These animals, with soft bodies, are arranged in three 
divisions: i. Molluscoidea or Brachiate mollusks, with arms 
having no regular gills, including Bryozoans and Brachiopods. 
2. Ascidian mollusks, not found in a fossil state. 3. IV^llusks 
proper, comprising Acephals, headless Mollusks ; Cephalates, 
having heads ; and Cephalopods. 

MOLLUSCOIDEA. 

Bryozoajts. — These Mollusks, called also Polyzoans, are 
minute creatures with hair-like organs, and secrete corals 
resembling sprays of moss, or cup-shaped flowers with fringed 
petals ; they comprise the genera Flustra, Retepora, Fenestella, 
and Archimedes. 

Brachiopods. — The name implies arm-like feet, given on 
account of the fringed appendages like arms coiled up in the 
shell, which serve on occasions for support. There is often 
an aperture in the beak through which a kind of pedicel is 
extruded to fix the animal to some foundation, as is seen in 
the Lingula. 

Brachiopods comprise several families with many genera, 
each characterized by some distinctive feature. The Tere- 
bratula, "bored or pierced," is so-called on account of the 
foramen or perforation in the beak ; it includes the genera 
Waldheimia and Stingocephalus, sometimes called a sub-family, 
and very abundant in the Eifel limestone. The Spirif er family 
has a watch-spring apparatus, or arms coiled up in the form of 



28 LIMESTONES AND MARBLES. 

a spiral, and comprises the Athyris, a genus very common in 
the Devonian rocks. 

The Rhynchonella comprises the Pentamerus, a genus which 
is very abundant in the Silurian formations, and the Atrypa, 
classed by Nicholson with the Spirifers. The Producta, or 
Productus as it is usually written, characteristic of the Car- 
boniferous limestone, is furnished with projections called ears ; 
to this family belongs the Chonetes, with the hinge of one 
valve bristling with spines. The genera Strophomena and 
Leptaena belong to the Orthis family, and the Obolus and 
Obolella to the Lingula family, characterized by a small ovate 
shell, supported by a stem like the handle of a spoon. The 
Lingula is found in the Cambrian rocks, and has maintained its 
existence until the present time. 

The Calceola has been classed with Brachiopods, Lamelli- 
branchs, and Corals, while the Calceola sandalina, " little slip- 
per," has met with worse treatment. Cuvier called it an 
oyster ; Lamarck classed it with the Rudistes ; Davidson con- 
sidered it a Brachiopod, and Suess and Lindstrom styled it 
Zoantharia rugosa, generally regarded as a coral, but even the 
Rugosa has been separated from the true polyp, and thought 
to be more nearly allied to the Hydrozoa than to the Anthozoa. 
"This seems," as an English naturalist facetiously remarks, 
"like the game 'Hunt the shpper.'" 

MOLLUSKS PROPER. 

Acephals. — They are all included in one group, the Lamel- 
libranchs or Conchifers, bivalves with lamellar gills. In ordi- 
nary Lamellibranchs, the valves cover the right and left sides. 
They appear in the older formations, and have continued to 
exist until the present time ; one of the oldest genera, the 
Conocardium, is enclosed in the Newfoundland limestone, and 
others are found in the Quebec, Chazy, Trenton, Niagara, and 
several European formations. The Devonian and Carbonifer- 
ous limestone contain several species, and the Triassic several 
of the Trigonia family, while in the Jurassic, new genera make 



FOSSILS. 29 

their appearance. The Gryphaea incurva, of the oyster family, 
forms the characteristic fossil of an extensive limestone for- 
mation of the Lias, and a very large species of the same 
family is found in the Cretaceous period. 

Not unfrequently, fossil oysters are of gigantic size, in 
some instances more than- twenty inches in length and two 
in thickness. The Ostrea carinata, found in France, has cre- 
nated edges and resembles the striking Crista Galli, " cock's 
comb," with its serrated crest. 

The Gryphee virgules, of the French geologists, is abundant 
in the Upper Oolite of France, and the Exogyra, a genus of the 
oyster family, frequently occurs in the Gryphite formation. 

The Diceras, a peculiar fossil with spiral beaks turned in 
opposite directions, is so abundant in the Middle Oolite of the 
Alps, that a limestone of this formation has been called Cal- 
caire a dicerates. 

The Avicula margaritifera, with an elegant, grooved, and 
striated shell, furnishes the pearl oyster ; the beautiful Trigonia, 
covered with bosses arranged in radiating lines, is abundant 
in the Portland stone, and occurs as siliceous, translucent 
fossils, in the whetstone pits of Devonshire ; it is generally 
distributed throughout both hemispheres and occurs in the 
Cretaceous formation of the United States, between the Mis- 
sissippi and the Pacific. 

The Rudistes, a family of Lamellibranchs, include the genera 
Hippurites, Radiolites, Spherulites, and some others. 

The Hippurites, meaning horse-tail, peculiar in structure as 
well as in name, have been regarded as bivalves by some, and 
as univalves by others, but later geologists class them with 
the bivalves. They have a straight, conical, lower valve, 
sometimes a foot or more in length, shaped like a horn, and 
closed by a perforated upper valve, which serves the purpose 
of a lid ; the shell is composed of two distinct layers, the 
outside covering exhibiting prisms with annular markings. 
These remarkable fossils occur in the Cretaceous limestones 
of the south of Europe, Africa, and North America ; the Hip- 



30 LIMESTONES AND MARBLES. 

purite Texanus of the United States is often of gigantic size, 
and a specimen of the Haploscapha, supposed to be one of 
the Rudistes, enclosed in the Niobrara group, had a diameter 
of twenty-six inches. Radiolites and Spherulites, closely 
allied to Hippurites, from six to ten inches in diameter, have 
been found in some Southern States. 

The Pinna, a wedge-shaped fossil, occurs in the Chester 
limestone of Illinois and the Oolitic limestone of England. 
A species of the Pinna is found in the Calcaire grossier, and a 
large species of the Perna is abundant in the Atherfield clay 
of England. 

The Pecten flourished in the more recent geological periods, 
and is easily distinguished from other bivalves. Some of the 
species are fine, as seen in the Pecten Poulsoni of the Vicks- 
burg group, with channelled and scalloped shell, and the P. 
Mortoni, nearly globular and with fine striae ; but the most 
interesting is the P. Jacobeus, the scallop shell represented 
in the Mediterranean by the famous scallop worn by the 
pilgrims to the Holy Land. The fossil is frequently very 
large, some specimens measuring six inches or more in length, 
and constitutes solid limestone strata in Sicily, found at a 
great elevation above the sea. 

The Myrtilus includes the true mussels, and occurs in the 
Devonian era ; the Lithodomus and Pholas genera of this 
family have the instinct of boring, and their operations assist 
in the disintegration of wood and rocks. When the channels 
made in wood by Pholades are filled with different colored 
spar, beautiful specimens of petrifaction result. The perfora- 
tions in the columns of the Temple of Jupiter Serapis, near 
Naples, were made by modern Lothodomi. 

The Unio, a river mussel, forms beds of compact limestone 
of a dark-colored ground with white shells ; strata in Derby- 
shire enclosing this fossil are called "musselband." 

The Cardium comprises the cockles, and is found in the 
Rhaetic beds and the Portland stone. 

Of all the bivalves, the Venus family, says Nicholson, is the 



FOSSILS. 31 

most highly organized, and comprises some of the most beau- 
ful examples of Lamellibranchs. They originated in the Oolitic 
period, were abundant in the Tertiary, and are found among 
living fauna. The genus bearing the family name comprises 
about 150 species, and the Cytherea, now extinct, comprised 
100. The Venericardia, another genus, is an elegant shell of 
large size, found in Italy and in England. 

The Cardita planostica, of the Cyprina family, is a beautiful 
species found in the Tertiary, and the Cyclas and Cyrena, 
genera of the Cyclas family, are fresh-water fossils of the 
Wealden. A single genus of the Lucina family affords be- 
tween 200 and 300 species; the Posidonomya, written also 
Posidonia, is abundant in the Carboniferous strata, and is 
found west of the Rocky Mountains. 

The Caprina, a very odd-shaped fossil, having one valve in 
a spiral form, is characteristic of a limestone formation in 
Texas, and the Caprotina has given the name to another 
Texan formation. The Donax, found in Tertiary limestone, is 
frequently of very large size, measuring eight or nine inches 
in length, and as many in width. 

The remains of Lamellibranchs are very abundant and of 
great importance in determining the age of strata, since they 
cover a long period, beginning at the. Lower Silurian, and" 
increasing in species and individuals to the present time. 

Cephalates. — This division consists of Mollusks with heads, 
and includes two groups, — Gasteropods and Pteropods. The 
Gasteropods are univalves, generally locomotive, moving on a 
soft, flattened disk or foot, whence the name " stomach-feet," 
and carrying their shells on their backs, as the snail ; they 
are marine, fresh-water, or terrestrial. The shell is usually 
cone-shaped, with an apex more or less elongated, often with 
whorls, the typical form, and is said to be turreted, truncoid, 
or turbinated, as the whorls pass more or less obliquely around 
the axis, called columella. The Gasteropods with indentations 
in the margin of the aperture were carnivorous; those with 
smooth margins were vegetable feeders. The class has been 



32 LIMESTONES AND MARBLES. 

traced back to the Cambrian period, and includes many orders, 
families, genera, and species. 

The Strombus, though very rare, is contained in the Creta- 
ceous and Tertiary rocks of Spain and Italy; and the remark- 
able Rostellaria, with a very long, sharp beak or spur, occurs 
in the Devonshire formation and the Barton clay of England. 
The Pterocera — scorpion shell — was furnished with long, 
pointed claws, which gave the animal so formidable a look 
that, as has been said, he must have been the terror of the 
Jurassic seas. 

The Murex, conspicuous for its spines, found in England 
and in the Paris basin, has its modern representative in the 
Mediterranean, used for the celebrated, beautiful Tyrian dye. 

More than fifty species of the spindle-shaped Fusus, have 
been found in the Paris basin ; the shell of the F. contrarius, 
called also the Trophon antiquum, is reversed, that is, the 
whorls incline from right to left, instead of left to right, which 
is their usual direction. 

The Buccinum comprises the whelks ; the beautiful Cassis, — 
helmet-shell, — is met with in Spain and Italy ; the Purpura, in 
the Red Crag of England ; the small Oliva in the Balderberg 
of Belgium ; the elegant Conus in France ; the Nassa in Cali- 
fornia ; the Pleurotoma and Ancellaria in the Barton clay. 

The Cypraea, with convoluted, enamelled shell, comprises the 
living representatives called Cowries. 

One of the most interesting genera of Gasteropods is the 
Cerithium, exhibiting a spiral, turreted shell, often highly 
decorated, as in the C. hexagonium, which maybe styled for its 
ornamentation the Gothic species of the class. The C. Port- 
landicum is sometimes called the Portland screw, on account 
of its resemblance to that mechanical power ; the C. gigantea, 
remarkable for its immense size, yields specimens nearly 
twenty-four inches in diameter and thirty in length. The 
shells, in the form of winding, turreted pyramids, translucent 
and yellowish-brown, occur in light-gray limestones of France. 

The Nerinaea is so abundant in one of the limestones of 



FOSSILS. . 33 

the Jura, corresponding to the Middle Oohte, that this forma- 
tion has been called Calcaire a nerinees. 

The true Periwinkles are classed with the Litorina, having 
a thick shell, in form like a top. The Solarium ornatum is 
ornamented with a delicate tracery like fine embroidery ; the 
Paludina, abundant in the Wealden, and the Neritina, are 
generally fresh-water shells, and the Nerita, found in the 
Great Oolite, is one of the most characteristic fossils of the 
Lits coquilliers, of France. 

The Turbo family includes several genera, mostly confined 
to the Paleozoic rocks, and are found in limestone of Silurian 
and Carboniferous age. The Chiton, rare as a fossil, is a 
peculiar shell, being composed of eight plates, and the Bulla 
comprises the Bubble-shells. 

The Heteropoda, sometimes called the mariners of the 
Gasteropods, are adapted by their organization to an existence 
in the open sea, being furnished with a tail and central fin 
which enables them to swim. The Bellerophon and the 
Maclurea, belonging to this order, were furnished with a shell 
into which they could retire ; they flourished in the Paleozoic 
era. The Maclurea, remarkable for its peculiar shell, con- 
stituted the most characteristic fossil of a Chazy limestone in 
Tennessee. 

The Helix and the Pupa embrace Land snails, and the 
Lymnia, Pond snails. Parkinson says only one species of the 
Lymnia is found in the Paris basin, while the Melania, which 
resembles it, frequently occurs there. 

The Physa is one of the few univalves with spirals arranged 
in a direction opposite to the general method ; the Ancylas 
comprises the river Limpets ; the Planorbis is found in the 
Bembridge and Headen strata of the Tertiary period. 

The Pteropods are pelagian and furnished with appendages 
for swimming. A part of this class is supplied with shells 
and no distinct head, and a part is without shells but has a 
distinct head ; the species are few, but the individuals numer- 
ous and of variable size, some specimens attaining colossal 
dimensions. 



34 LIMESTONES AND MARBLES. 

The best-known genera are Hylea, Theca — the Hyolites 
of America — Tentaculites, and Conularia. The Tentaculites 
have been called Annelids, but most paleontologists place 
them with the Pterepoda ; the shell is a cone-shaped tube 
closing in a point at the end, and with a circular opening at 
the other end. It is a Silurian fossil, very abundant in a 
limestone of the Waterlime group. 

The Conularia, the most remarkable genus of the Pteropods, 
is a four-sided cone, generally truncated, found in the Devon. 
shire limestone of England, and the Trenton and Niagara of 
America. 

Cephalopods. — Of all Mollusks the Cephalopods are the 
most highly organized and the most interesting in their struc- 
ture ; they are included in two orders, one with external shells 
and the other without them. They have eight or more arms 
furnished with suckers, which are arranged around the head, 
as the name implies, and used for walking on the bed of the 
sea. The shells, called chambered shells, are divided into 
several apartments or chambers by transverse partitions, and 
connected by a tube or siphuncle passing through the entire 
length of the shell, whether coiled or straight. By means of 
suckers these animals, of which the Cuttle-fish of modern 
times furnishes a good illustration, can fasten themselves to 
any object with remarkable tenacity. Most Cephalopods now 
existing, except the Argonaut and the Nautilus, have no ex- 
ternal shells, and the remains of those in a fossil state consist 
principally of the mandibles or jaws, usually called Rhyncho- 
lites, skeletons, and sometimes the ink-bag. 

The manner" in which chambered shells are built up is 
exceedingly curious. The creature begins his existence at 
the small end of the shell, and occupies a room suitable for 
his modest wants ; as he grows, he makes preparation for a 
more spacious chamber, by running a partition, called a septum, 
from one side of the shell to the other, thus forever closing 
his first apartments, to which he cannot, of course, return. 
The same method is pursued with other rooms, as his propor- 



Plate IV. 




Stellaria. 




Baalbec. 



FOSSILS. 35 

tions increase in size, until he has built a large mansion of 
several stories, all connected by the siphuncle passing through 
perforations in the partitions ; the last spacious room, which 
has an open door, enabling the occupant to communicate with 
the outside world, constitutes his dwelling-place. Some of 
these hidden chambers are beautifully decorated with pearly 
nacre and ornamental markings, often assuming the form of 
graceful curves which, when they appear on the outside of the 
shell, are called sutures. 

The Nautilus, the most interesting of the Cephalopods, on 
account of its great antiquity and its curious organization, is 
frequently found in a fossil state, with the outside covering 
decomposed, leaving exposed the resplendent pearly coating, 
which gives to the marble enclosing these shells a remarkable 
brilliancy and beauty. The Nautilus is found fossilized in 
septaria on the Island of Sheppy, at the mouth of the Thames, 
and in the rocks of Somersetshire. 

The Spirula, a genus of the Nautilus family, having a shell 
with the coils not in contact, is found in a reddish marble of' 
Mecklenburg, Normandy, and Switzerland, and in a German 
gray marble, but they occur in the greatest numbers in Goth- 
land and Oeland. The Clymenia, with a flat, discoidal shell, 
is abundant in the Devonian rocks of Germany, constituting 
the representive fossil of the Clymenia limestone. 

Orthoceratites, characterized by a straight shell resembling 
a horn, frequently grow to a remarkable size, specimens from 
ten to fifteen feet in length being found in the Trenton lime- 
stone. They are very numerous in Paleozoic strata, and occur 
in such masses in Sweden and other countries of the Baltic, 
that the rock enclosing them has been styled the Orthocera- 
tite limestone, a formation yielding the Marble of the Baltic. 
Orthoceratites are found in the marbles of Blankenburg, in 
Switzerland, in Siberia, and a species of pearl white has been 
enclosed in the strata of the Apennines, near Siena. 

Barrande discovered in the Silurian strata of Bohemia more 
than 500 species of the Orthoceratite, and about 250 species 



36 LIMESTONES AND MARBLES. 

of the Cyrtoceras, which differs from the Orthoceras, in having 
a curved, instead of a straight shell. 

In the /Ammonites, the septa are foliated on the edges, 
while in the Nautilus family they are only curved ; they first 
appeared in the Silurian and disappeared in the Cretaceous, 
therefore, as far as is known, there are no existing species. 
The Ammonite received the name from its likeness to the 
horns of Jupiter Ammon, an Egyptian deity represented by 
the figure of a ram. Curious opinions have been entertained 
by the illiterate concerning the character of Ammonites, some 
supposing them to be jointed snake-stones. The genus Am- 
monite includes more than 500 species, varying in size from 
a few inches to the diameter of a coach-wheel ; sometimes the 
shell is crenated or scalloped, and in the Cornu Ammonis the 
nacrous covering is very brilliant. 

The Goniatite, a very ancient genus of the family, consti- 
tutes the distinctive fossil of the Goniatite limestone of 
Indiana ; and the .Ceratite, a characteristic fossil of the Trias, 
occurs in the Muschelkalk of Germany ; like the Goniatite it 
has a disk-like shell, but the sutures are crenated. 

Hamites, with hook-like shells, are abundant in the Creta- 
ceous period ; Baccuhtes, having a straight shell and indented 
sutures, occur in the Faxoe and Maestricht beds. Turrilites, 
with spiral, turreted shells, are rare and elegant fossils, found 
in the Cretaceous rocks of France and North America. 

Belemnites — darts — or ''thunder stones," have been the 
subject of many curious and absurd ideas as to their origin. 
They consist of a conical or spindle-shaped body ending in a 
point at one end, and at the other in a broad cavity termed 
the guard or rostrum, in which are placed a series of chambers 
with curved septa and siphuncle ; it is this internal skeleton 
or osselet that is usually found in a fossil state. The broad, 
conical end of the bones often expands into a feather-shaped 
extremity which corresponds to the pen of the Calamary or 
Squid. 

It is said that specimens of Belemnites have been found 



FOSSILS. 3;^ 

which afford evidence that the animal was furnished with 
two fins, an ink-bag, eight arms, tentacles provided with 
suckers, and a mouth -with jaws. If supplied with all these 
weapons he must have been a very formidable creature con- 
sidering the size to which some of the species attained. 
They are numerous in the Jurassic limestones, and are in 
some specimens translucent, of different shades of brown ; 
many of the dark-brown marbles of Switzerland are chiefly 
formed of these remains. 

The shells of the higher orders of Mollusks consist of cal- 
cite with a small proportion of animal matter, and in the 
Pholades, the carbonate of lime assumes the character of 
aragonite, which is harder than limestone. 

ARTICULATES. 

These animals have jointed bodies consisting of a series of 
rings, and include three classes : i. Insecteans, or Insects, 
Spiders, and Myriapods, having the body in three parts. 2. 
Crustaceans, with the body in two parts, and covered by a 
thin, crust-like shell. 3. Worms, with body not divided ; they 
comprise the Serpula, with a calcareous tube, and Annelids. 

VERTEBRATES. 

They are characterized by vertebrae, and are divided into 
four classes : Fishes, Reptiles, Birds, and Mammals ; the last 
three are warm-blooded and air-breathing. 

VEGETABLE KINGDOM. 

Nullipores and Corallines secrete lime, like most corals, 
but Diatoms, generally regarded as plants, secrete siliceous 
shells, and form large masses of rocks. Ehrenberg, with a 
powerful microscope, discovered in the earth called tripoli, 
used in polishing marble, the shells of the Gaillonella, a genus 
of Diatoms so minute, that a single grain in weight en- 
closed about 187,000,000 of these microscopic organisms. 
These infinitesimal bodies were propagated with astonishing 



38 LIMESTONES AND MARBLES. 

rapidity, hence the great masses of strata they were able to 
produce. 

FOSSILS OF THE PARIS BASIN. 

The Paris basin, so well known to paleontologists for the 
variety and abundance of its organic remains, affords a large 
number of fossil shells, several genera of which have already 
been described. Among bivalves are found the Pholas, Pan- 
dora, Saxicava, Teridina, Mactra, Tellina, Chiton, Nucula, 
Solen, Chama, Lima, and others. Species of the Lucina and 
the Cytherea often occur of large size, and those of the Vene- 
ricardia are often beautifully ornamented with markings. 
Specimens of the Perna and Cardium are found measuring 
four and five inches in length, and some species of the Ostria 
are very striking. 

The Univalves include the Ampularia, Scalaria, Pyrula, 
Harpa, Terebra, Ovula, Beloptera, Lymnia, Melania, with 
other genera, each including several species. The Cerithium 
comprises a great number of species, fifty, if not more having 
been found in the environs of Paris, varying in size from 
almost minute to two feet in length. 

The species of the Turritella, with a long-pointed shell, 
bear a close resemblance to one another. 

The Solium is similar in appearance to the Nummulite ; 
the Pleurotoma, with a long beak like a stem, includes nearly 
eighty species. 

The very peculiar Rostellaria includes a species of gigantic 
size, sometimes measuring from eight to nine inches in length. 
The Cassis is characterized by a wide aperture, and the 
Strombus displays an ornament like a ruffle at one side of 
the opening. 

To those already mentioned may be added the Fusus, Can- 
cellaria, Voluta, Trochus, Pleurotomaria, Paludina, Bulla, 
Helix, Planorbis, Physa, Ancylus, Nerita, Conus, Natica, and 
Cypraea. 



Plate V. 




African Bi^ck and White. 




Bianco b Nbro. 



CHAPTER III. 

GENERAL DIVISIONS OF GEOLOGICAL TIME. 

The history of the earth is written in its rocks, therefore 
the arrangement of strata in chronological order is of vast 
importance. For greater convenience, geological time is 
divided into different eras, ages, periods, and epochs, each 
including an indefinite number of years, while some of these 
divisions are of inconceivable length. This classification 
depends upon the relative age of strata, which is determined 
in three ways : By order of superposition ; by the lithological 
nature of rocks ; and by fossils. The last is the best method, 
and the one most frequently employed. 

Rocks, in regard to their age, may be studied either by 
beginning with the most recent and passing to the oldest, 
which is the better method for investigation, and the one 
adopted by Lyell ; or by following the order of their occur- 
rence, and, beginning with the oldest, pass to the youngest 
formations, which is the better method for studying the laws 
of evolution, and the one generally adopted in America. 

As limestones are largely fossiliferous, they become of very 
great value in determining geological periods. 

The oldest known rocks are those of the Archaean or 
Eozoic era — dawn of life — the twilight of geological time, 
and very little positive knowledge in regard to their origin 
has yet been obtained. This era is thought to be of incon- 
ceivable length, probably exceeding any other in the earth's 
history, and, perhaps, all others combined. The Eozoic 
rocks are of immense thickness, and, for the most part, meta- 

39 



40 LIMESTONES AND MARBLES. 

morphic, but on account of the absence of fossils, or their 
extremely limited number, the order of succession of strata 
cannot be decided with the precision of succeeding eras. 
They have been divided by the most recent classification into 
Taconian, Montalban, Huronian, Norian, and Laurentian 
ages. 

The formations of this system, first established in America, 
are found in various parts of this continent and in the East- 
ern Hemisphere, and include the great iron-ore beds of New- 
Jersey, Missouri, Lake Superior, and Sweden. Among the 
series are found serpentines, dolomites, limestones, and 
some of the most extensive marble beds, including those of 
the Green Mountains, formerly referred to the Silurian. 

According to the divisions of time made by most American 
geologists, the next in order is the Paleozoic era, — ancient 
life, — including Lower and Upper Silurian, Devonian, and 
Carboniferous ages. Instead of Upper and Lower Silurian, 
some writers use the terms Cambrian and Silurian. 

The comparative quiet of the long Silurian age was favor- 
able for the development of the great limestone formations 
which characterize it, as the Chazy, the Trenton, the Niagara, 
and the Helderberg, with many smaller divisions. 

A large part of the calcareous rocks of the United States 
were deposited during the Trenton period of the Lower Silu- 
rian ; they are widely distributed, . and cover extensive areas 
in this country and in British America, where they constitute 
the mass of rock through which the Montmorency River has 
cut a channel. 

The Trenton limestones, so called from Trenton Falls, N.Y., 
are interesting for the great number and variety of fossils 
they contain, ranging from the lowest forms of Protozoans to 
Articulates. The Radiates and Mollusks afford examples of 
their largest specimens ; some Orthoceratites have been 
found measuring from ten to fifteen feet in length. Crinoids 
and Corals contributed to the embellishment of " the marine 
gardens " of the Silurian age, for, as remarked by Dana, there 



GENERAL DIVISIONS OF GEOLOGICAL TIME. 4I 

were no other flowers of Paleozoic time. Large masses of 
limestone during this period were formed of corals. 

It has been estimated that a large part of the Appalachian 
rocks, one-third of those of Tennessee, and five-sixths of 
those of Illinois and Missouri are Lower Silurian. 

The Niagara period of the Upper Silurian constituted 
another long time for the formation of limestones, which are 
spread over a broad region, covering extensive tracts in the 
centre of the continent, stretching from New York towards 
the south and west on the eastern coast, and in British 
America on the north, reaching to the Arctic regions. 

The formation received its name from the Niagara Falls, 
at and near which it is well-developed, forming the upper 
part of the precipice over which the water flows. It can be 
traced through the northern part of Vermont, New Hamp- 
shire, and Maine to Eastern Canada, and includes the Guelf or 
Gait limestone of West Canada, and the Le Clair of Iowa. 
•The Coralline limestone of New York, with fossils character- 
istic of the formation, and the Meniscus limestone of West 
Tennessee, enclosing a moon-shaped sponge, for which it is 
named, are believed to be of the same age. 

The Niagara limestorle is dark-gray or drab, sometimes 
concretionary, and filled with cavities holding dog-tooth and 
pearl spar, fluor-spar, gypsum, and celestite. Sometimes this 
limestone breaks into smooth, vertical columns, affording a 
structure called Stylotites. Both the Trenton and the 
Niagara limestones yield mineral oil, and both are highly 
fossiliferous. Corals, Crinoids, and Trilobites characterize 
each formation, but the fossils of the Niagara surpass in 
beauty those of the Trenton. Among the corals of the 
former, are Favosites, or honeycomb, Halysites, or chain-coral, 
and Cyathophylloids, or cup-corals. The Clinton limestone 
of the Niagara period encloses the Pentamerus oblongus, a 
large bivalve, and the singular fossil called Graptolites. The 
largest display of the Niagara limestone occurs in New York 
and in the Mississippi Basin. 



42 LIMESTONES AND MARBLES. 

The Lower Helderberg group of the Upper Silurian, named 
for the Helderberg Mountains in the eastern part of New 
York, include limestone strata of considerable thickness. 
They spread over a large tract towards the west, and appear 
in Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, towards the south along the 
Appalachians to the Potomac, and are supposed to extend 
northeastward to Cape Gaspe. The lower beds, designated 
Water-lime, because used for hydraulic cement, consist of a 
drab-colored or bluish limestone, characterized by the Ten- 
taculite, and sometimes called Tentaculite limestone. Besides 
the Water-lime, the series includes a Pentamerus, the Cat- 
skill or Delthyris, and an Encrinal limestone. 

The Helderberg limestones surpass even those of the 
Trenton and Niagara periods in the abundance, size, and 
beauty of their fossils. More than three hundred species 
have been already recognized in the formation, some of which 
belonged to former epochs. 

The Oriskany limestones, in the latest series of the Upper 
Silurian, are not very extensively developed ; .they occur in 
New York and in the Mississippi Basin, and are thought from 
the presence of their characteristic fossils, to exist in North- 
ern New England and British America, extending to the Gulf 
of St. Lawrence. The formation was called for Oriskany, 
New York, a State which has supplied names for nearly all 
representative Silurian limestones of America. 

It has been seen that the Silurian was a great limestone- 
producing age, that marine life was exceedingly abundant, 
that, on the whole, it was a season of comparative quiet, and 
that it was a period of inconceivable length, since sedimentary 
limestones were deposited with extreme slowness. 

In taking leave of the Silurian age, with its teeming popu- 
lation of marine life, we are introduced to new genera and 
species of fauna, whose remains largely contributed to the 
formation of calcareous strata. The Corniferous of the De- 
vonian age, was one of the great limestone periods of North 
America, and from the remarkable abundance of corals, it has 



GENERAL DIVISIONS OF GEOLOGICAL TIME. 43 

been styled the Coral-reef period of the Paleozoic era. Some 
of the Devonian corals are of very large size, masses often 
measuring five feet in diameter. 

At the Falls of the Ohio, near Louisville, the Corniferous 
limestone is almost entirely composed of corals of different 
forms and sizes, of bright and variegated colors ; some of the 
cup-corals are six or seven inches in diameter. The limestone 
is variable in color, sometimes with an oolitic structure, and 
frequently including horn-stones, from which the name Cor- 
niferous is derived. The formation is founds in other States 
of the Mississippi Basin, in New York, and in Canada. 

Several notable oil-wells have their source in this forma- 
tion, as those at Terre Haute, Indiana, which are nearly 2,000 
feet deep ; the shells and the cells of the corals enclosed are 
often filled with oil. 

The limestones of the Hamilton period are represented by 
thin beds, including an Encrinal, and the Tully limestone of 
New York. 

In the West, the Devonian rocks are mostly limestone, 
while in the East, they consist largely of shales and sandstone. 

The Carboniferous age, a great coal-producing time, closes 
the Paleozoic era, and is divided into Subcarboniferous, Car- 
boniferous, and Permian periods; the former is remarkable 
for immense limestone deposits both in Europe and America. 
The Subcarboniferous limestones of the United States con- 
stitute the principal rocks of the vast central region, where it 
reaches, in certain places, 1,200 feet in thickness. 

The predominant fossils of any geological age, differ from 
those of any preceding or succeeding age; in the Silurian, 
Brachiopods, Crinoids, and Corals are about equally dis- 
tributed ; in the Devonian, Corals are the most abundant ; 
while the Carboniferous yields a great number and variety 
of Crinoids. 

The Carboniferous limestones, including a great diversity 
in color, black, gray, blue, yellow, and red, are largely de- 
veloped in the West, extending beyond the Rocky Mountains, 



44 LIMESTONES AND MARBLES. 

and, to a limited extent, in Pennsylvania, comprising the 
Pittsburg, while on the Potomac, their thickness is con- 
siderable. 

The Permian limestones of America are prevalent in the 
Continental Basin west of the Mississippi. They are gen- 
erally impure and magnesian, soft and irregular in structure. 

Mesozoic or medieval time succeeds the long Paleozoic era, 
and includes the Triassic, Jurassic, and Cretaceous periods. 

As a considerable portion of the continent was dry land at 
the beginning of this era, Mesozoic rocks are not universally 
distributed, but are confined to the Atlantic and Pacific 
borders and the Rocky Mountain region. In the United 
States, the Triassic affords no important limestones, while in 
Europe, it is represented by the great Muschelkalk formation. 

In consequence of the absence of fossils, the lines of de- 
markation are not distinctly drawn on the Atlantic coast 
between the Triassic and the Jurassic formations, but the 
latter has been fully identified in the western region,and on 
the Pacific slope ; the strata are only partly calcareous, while 
the Jura of Europe is largely a limestone formation. 

The Cretaceous period on the Eastern Continent yields vast 
beds of Chalk, whereas in North America it is rarely found ; 
it is said a large bed in Western Kansas is the only one known 
in this country. The formation is represented by limestones, 
sometimes compact, and sometimes with the particles loosely 
held together, when they are called *' rotten limestones." 
Those of Texas are firm and compact ; those of Mississippi 
and Missouri include a soft, chalky variety, and a hard, white 
limestone, containing Glauconite or Green earth ; in Tennessee 
and Alabama, they consist of shell or rotten limestones, and 
New Jersey develops a fossiliferous limestone of this period. 
The Cretaceous groups of Texas receive different names, as 
Caprotina and Caprina, from their characteristic fossils, and 
Washita and Austin from their locality. 

The last great division of geological time is the Cenozoic, — 
recent life, — including the Tertiary and Quaternary ages. 



f 



GENERAL DIVISIONS OF GEOLOGICAL TIME. 45 

The Tertiary embraces the Eocene, Miocene, and Pliocene 
epochs, a distinction not strictly marked in America. This 
formation has a thickness of from 3,000 to 4,000 feet in 
California; and in Florida, South Carolina, Alabama, and 
Mississippi it is represented by coral and shell limestones. 

The Vicksburg group encloses the Orbitoides, a coin-shaped 
Rhizopod resembling the Nummulite, the representative fos- 
sil of the most remarkable formation of the Tertiary in the 
Eastern Hemisphere. 

The Infusorial beds of Virginia, an accumulation of the 
siliceous remains of microscopic organisms, mostly Diatoms, 
now regarded as plants, and the Mauvaises Terres or Bad 
Lands of the West, are of the Tertiary age. By the aid of 
the microscope, Ehrenberg discovered about one hundred 
species of Diatoms in the Infusorial earth of Richmond. 

The principal rocks of the Quaternary period, of chemical 
origin, are stalactites, stalagmites, and travertines or cal- 
careous tufas ; others are formed of organic remains, including 
coral-reef formations, and some shell limestones. 



46 



LIMESTONES AND MARBLES. 



CLASSIFICATION OF CALCAREOUS STRATA, ARRANGED IN CHRO- 
NOLOGICAL ORDER, AFTER DANA, LE CONTE, AND OTHER 
AMERICAN GEOLOGISTS. 



Eras. 


Ages. 


Periods. 


Epochs. 


5. Psychozoic . . 


Age of Man . . 


Human. 


Recent. 






'Quaternary . . . 


Terrace, Champlain, 


4. Cenozoic. . . 


Age of Mammals . 


Tertiary 


Glacial. 
Pliocene, Miocene, 
Eocene. 


3. Mesozoic 




i Cretaceous .... 


Chalk, Green Sand. 


(Secondary) . 


Age of Reptiles . 


< Jurassic 


Wealden (?) Oolite, Lias. 






( Triassic 


Muschelkalk Formation. 


2. Paleozoic, 








(Primary) . 


Carboniferous, 


Permian . . . . 

Carboniferous. . . 
[ Sub-Carboniferous . 


Permian, Zechstein For- 




Age of Acro- 


mation. 




gens and Am- 


Coal Measures. 




phibians, 


Mountain Limestone. 




Devonian, Age of 


Catskill, Chemung. 






Fishes, 


Hamilton, Corniferous, 


Hamilton, Corniferous. 






( Oriskany .... 


^ ( Oriskany. 

r^j Lov^er Helderberg. 






Lower Helderberg . 






Salina. 


^ 1 






Niagara .... 


tli [ Niagara, Clinton. 




Silurian, Age of 








Invertebrates . 


Trenton 


. ( Cincinnati, Trenton. 






Canadian .... 


s Chazy, Quebec, Cal- 
^ i ciferous. 






Primordial or Cam- 






brian .... 


^ Potsdam. 


I. Archaean, or 








Eozoic . . . 


Taconian. 


Not divided into pe- 


Green Mt. Marbles. 




Montalban. 
Huronean. 






Norian. 


riods and epochs. 






Laurentian. 




Eozoon Canadense. 



CHAPTER IV. 

LIMESTONES OF THE UNITED STATES. 

The limestone areas of the United States may be classed 
in three general divisions : The Atlantic region, including 
the States east of or on the Appalachian chain ; the Missis- 
sippi Basin, embracing the region between that chain and the 
Rocky Mountains ; and the Pacific slope, reaching from these 
mountains to the sea. 

New England. — Although limestones are found to some 
extent in nearly every State, yet there are certain sections 
where they constitute the characteristic rock, and become of 
great economic value. The western slope of the Green Moun- 
tain chain in Vermont and Massachusetts, affords an example 
of the most extensive limestone formation in New England, 
and one of the most important in the United States. 

The Green Mountain marbles, formerly regarded as Silurian, 
are now classed with the Eozoic rocks. 

The Stockbridge limestone has been named by Hitchcock, 
the Eolian, from Mt. Eolus in East Dorset, Vermont, where 
it is largely developed. The formation, says this geologist, is 
the most remarkable in New England, extending fifty miles, 
varying in thickness from i,ooo to 3,000 feet, and containing 
some very large caverns. One of the peaks of Mt. Eolus dis- 
plays 2,000 feet of white and gray marble, which is considered 
the most extraordinary exhibition of the kind in the country. 

The Vermont marbles have been classed as the Eolian, the 
Winooski, the Variegated Plymouth, and the Isle La Motte. 
These classes include a great variety, many different kinds 

47 



48 LIMESTONES AND MARBLES. 

being often found in the same quarry. Those of West Rut- 
land, the most extensively worked in the State, often exhibit 
gray, white, mottled, saccharoidal, compact, friable, and lami- 
nated marbles in close neighborhood. 

The blue-gray mottled marble of Sutherland's Falls, Rut- 
land, has been compared to the Italian Bardiglio. The two 
marbles are similar in color, but differ in several other par- 
ticulars ; the Italian is fine-grained, of firm texture, with very 
distinct clouding, and is capable of excellent polish, while the 
Vermont is coarsely granular, hard, enclosing mineral particles,, 
and with a more blended shading. 

The Brandon marble is generally pure white, and somewhat 
translucent, hut it is not used, to any extent, for statuary 
marble. Swanton yields a magnesian, dove-colored marble, 
and Sudbury a white variety, of nearly pure carbonate of 
lime. 

The Winooski marble is named for a river in the, western 
part of Vermont ; it is dolomitic and affords a great variety in 
color, composition, and structure. The prevailing tint is a 
dull-red in blotches of various forms and shades, affording, in 
some specimens, a ground of blackish-green, with spots of 
bright pink and reddish-brown, while in others the red color 
is wanting. A brecciated variety called " Mosaic," has been 
used for ornamental work. 

The Plymouth marble is a dolomite, but, unlike most dolo- 
mites, it is said to weather well. In some resp^ects it differs 
in appearance from any other American marble. The ground 
color is a bluish-gray, covered with long, white figures or 
stripes ; it is susceptible of a good polish, yet it is not in 
demand, and is used for quicklime, known as "Plymouth 
white lime." 

The Isle La Motte marble is developed in the Champlain 
valley, and in the island of the same name in the lake. It is 
fossiliferous, solid, black, and capable of a high polish, and is 
used largely for tiles of floors. Though black is the prevailing 
tint, yet there are other colors, as gray, and different shades 



1 



LIMESTONES OF THE UNITED STATES. 49 

of brown, from light to dark. It is said to be the first marble 
worked in Vermont, and has been used in several of the 
pubUc buildings of Burlington and for construction in various 
other places. It was employed with excellent effect in the 
fine, new. Congregational Church of St. Johnsbury, Vermont, 
and for the Victoria Bridge on the Grand Trunk Railway. 

Seams of crystalline hydro-mica schist, of delicate green or 
blue, occur in nearly all the light-colored marbles of Vermont, 
especially the Rutland varieties. The white, statuary marble 
in this State has been compared to the Carrara of Italy, but 
any marble-worker knows that the latter is greatly superior 
to the former for art purposes. It is softer, more translucent, 
and freer from siliceous and other foreign substances. 

The limestones of Stockbridge and North Adams, Mass., 
belong to the Eolian or Stockbridge formation, of the Green 
Mountain chain, therefore they are Eozoic in age. The mar- 
ble of North Adams is formed largely of perfect crystals of 
calcite, sometimes of a large size, while that of Mt. Eolus 
is highly granular. The variety called "sparry," encloses 
veins of white calcareous spar, which give it a checkered 
appearance. The Eolian or Stockbridge marble was used in 
the construction of Middlebury College, and for the columns 
of Girard College, Philadelphia. An Eozoic limestone of 
Newburyport, Mass., is believed to enclose the Eozoon 
Canadense. 

Serpentines form a large element in the Green Mountain 
system of rocks, and afford a variety of beautiful ornamental 
stones. When they enclose some other minerals, they con- 
stitute a variety called ophiolite, which passes under the comx- 
mercial name of Verde antique marble. It ranges through 
various shades of green, from whitish to greenish-black, and 
is developed in many different localities. It receives a good 
polish, and is believed to compare favorably with the 
antique. 

The Green Mountain serpentines present a great variety of 
structure, comprising massive, brecciated, laminated, fibrous, 



50 LIMESTONES AND MARBLES. 

and some others. They often contain diallage, and some- 
times actinolite and garnet. The dark variety, found at Rox- 
bury, Vermont, has nearly the same composition as the dark- 
colored European, there being a slight preponderance of silica, 
magnesia, and water in the former, and of protoxide of iron in 
the latter, while in the light-colored varieties the difference is 
greater. 

Fine species of serpentine are found in Oxford, Vermont, 
including a sub-translucent variety of deep olive-green with 
blush veins and even texture, and another of a mottled green- 
ish-gray tinged with purple. 

Although the limestones of the Green Mountains are the 
most extensive and important in New England, and yield the 
largest quantity of marbles, yet there are other calcareous 
formations in this section which develop marbles and material 
for building purposes. 

In New Hampshire, where the characteristic rocks are of 
the granitic class, limestone strata are found of considerable 
extent in the northern section, and are occasionally inter- 
stratified with the White Mountain gneissic rocks. 

A large part of the limestones of New Hampshire are re- 
ferred to the Corniferous period of the Devonian age, while 
some others are Lower Helderberg, Upper Silurian. A Cri- 
noidal limestone occurs at Lisbon, and at Littleton, a Coral 
limestone enclosing Zaphrentes and Favosites. 

Eozoic rocks occupy a large space in New Hampshire, 
Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island. In the latter 
State, they cover an area ii;i the northwest, while the Car- 
boniferous system, including conglomerates, slates, and lime- 
stones, occupies most of the southeast. 

At Fort Adams, in Newport Harbor, are displayed beds of 
compact limestone considered very old, perhaps Eozoic, 
variegated with red, green, brown, or buff, and the same for- 
mation appears on Lime Island, east of the fortifications. 
The quartz conglomerate constitutes one of the most striking 
features of the scenery in the vicinity of Newport. 



^ 



LIMESTONES OF THE UNITED STATES. 5 1 

A part of Connecticut is intersected by a series of lime- 
stone valleys considered Eozoic, developing a rock suitable for 
marble. In the northwest the formation crosses Berkshire 
Co., Mass., and passes into New York ; but the most exten- 
sive limestone strata are seen at Kent Hollow in the valley 
of the West Aspetuck. White marble may be obtained from 
the limestones of Danbury ; and the quarries of New Preston, 
in the time of Percival, had long been worked. 

A range of limestones in the south part of the State, has 
yielded, says the poet geologist, the New Haven and the 
Milford marbles. The latter is described as of fine grain, and 
variegated with green, blue, and yellow, enclosing talc, epidote, 
and sometimes black serpentine with veins of light tints 
which give it the appearance of Verde antique. The New 
Haven marble is a variety conspicuous for its yellow tints. 

These marbles used in Percival' s day may not, at the 
present time, be employed for ornamental purposes. 

The most remarkable trap ridges in New England occur in 
the western part of this State, combined with limestones. 

While granite, gneiss, and other non-calcareous rocks are 
characteristic of Maine, limestones, often yielding marbles, 
are abundant in many parts of the State. The Niagara and 
Lower Helderberg in the north, comprise limestones, while on 
Passamaquoddy Bay, the L. Helderberg is represented by 
slates and sandstones, and to the southeast of this region a 
fossiliferous limestone is met with, either Niagara or L. 
Helderberg. The Oriskany strata, principally limestone, 
occur between Moosehead Lake and Vermont. 

The limestone of Thomaston, partly magnesian, has been 
extensively quarried for lime and building, and appears to be 
inexhaustible. 

The Owl's Head limestone is penetrated by trap, and at 
Philipsburg Basin, where it is largely developed, it encloses 
garnets and various other minerals. 

Calcareous rocks are well represented in the interior, along 
the Atlantic coast, and in- the west, some of the strata being 



52 LIMESTONES AND MARBLES. 

magiiesian, as the white dolomite of Union, which affords 
marble. Some of the limestones of Maine are Eozoic. 

The later formations are composed of fossiliferous sands 
and clay enclosing the Saxicava and the Leda. 

Deer Island, in Penobscot Bay, yields a beautiful serpentine, 
enclosing asbestos and yellow or olive-green diallage, consti- 
tuting a desirable ornamental stone. 

New York. — Limestones, marbles, and serpentines, are 
abundant in New York, and some of the marbles are of con- 
siderable commercial value. What are called primitive lime- 
stones, the Eozoic, resemble those of the same age in New 
England and Canada, and when free from foreign substances, 
are said to form a marble of fair quality, but are inferior to 
those of Vermont. 

The Trenton limestone, loaded with organic remains, com- 
prises a dark-colored variety capable of yielding marble, and a 
light, sparry rock forming the upper layers at Trenton Falls. 

The Bird's Eye and the Black River are of the same epoch ; 
the former marked by Fucoids, — Paleozoic seaweeds, — 
which are frequently replaced by calcite or other mineral 
substances, is mostly confined to the Mohawk valley, while 
the Black River prevails in the northwestern part of the State. 
Both -varieties afford marbles of agreeable tints. 

The Niagara limestone. Upper Silurian, is distinguished by 
a fine, granular texture with numerous shining points of 
vitreous lustre, magnesian in composition and often nodular. 

The Water-lime or Hydraulic limestones of the Lower 
Helderberg are spread over an extensive area, but are most 
conspicuous in the southeast, where they form the isolated 
eminence called Becraft's Mountain, near the Hudson, which 
Dana thinks is the remnant of a great formation once existing 
in that region. The limestone near this mountain is full of 
Encrinites, and, when polished, forms a beautiful reddish-gray 
marble, comparing favorably, it is claimed, with the Derby- 
shire shell marble gf England. 

The granular limestones east of the Hudson afford vast 



LIMESTONES OF THE UNITED STATES. 53 

mines of marble, varying in color and texture, including the 
Dover, a fine-grained, pure white or clouded variety, resem- 
bling the Stockbridge. 

The calcareous formations of Columbia and Dutchess 
Counties, belonging to different epochs, appear on the west 
side of the Hudson, in New Jersey. 

Marble beds are found in West Chester County, in the south 
part of the State, but those of Sing Sing and Kingsbridge are 
the best known. The crystalline white marble of East Chester 
is suitable for columns and cornices of buildings ; those of 
Putnam County are dove-colored, reddish, and variegated. In 
this county occurs a conglomerate of gray and white lime- 
stones with pebbles of other rocks, the mass resembling the 
Potomac breccia. On the west bank of the Hudson a white, 
Eozoic limestone is seen, resembling in portions calcareous 
spar, and near Lake George it is pierced with caverns. 

Gray limestones with numerous fossils, in the central part of 
of the State, were used in the construction of the Erie Canal. 

The Onondaga Crinoidal limestone, of a bluish-gray, makes 
an excellent building-stone. The Onondaga marble is char- 
acterized by the Pentamerus, while the dark Seneca limestone 
consists largely of the Brachiopod, Strophomena lineata. 

The Tully limestone displayed at Tully's Corners is an 
extensive deposit, though it does not exceed sixteen feet in 
thickness. It is very fossiliferous, of a uniform character, 
fine, compact, and a light bluish-gray color, but is not well 
adapted for construction. 

Several varieties of marbles are developed on the southern 
shores of Lake Ontario ; that at Lockport, enclosing fragments 
of organic remains, forms a beautiful ornamental stone, and a 
dove-colored marble is found in the region of Lake George. 
The fine black marble in the north part of the State, prob- 
ably similar to the Isle La Motte, takes a good polish and has 
been compared to the Irish black. The black fossiliferous 
marble of Glenn's Falls, derived from the Trenton limestone, 
has been used for mantels, and the Islgmd of New York fur- 



54 LIMESTONES AND MARBLES. 

nishes limestones which have been used for different pur- 
poses. 

The serpentines are abundant, and form the main ridge of 
hills on Staten Island. They present many elegant varieties, 
with colors ranging from white to black, and various shades 
of green. The beautiful green and white variety, called Verde 
antique, forms a desirable ornamental stone, and that of Syra- 
cuse is said to resemble the Tuscan. 

Beds of travertine are deposited in several places; from 
Tully's Corners, in the direction of Syracuse, the hills are 
covered with an immense deposit of gypsum, abounding with 
beds of calcareous tufa. 

New Jersey. — It is asserted by G. H. Cook that the rocks 
of New Jersey range through nearly every period of geological 
time, from the earliest to the most recent, the only important 
member wanting is the Coal formation. 

The Eozoic strata cover a large area in the north, and 
include crystalline and metamorpRic limestones, which consti- 
tute a portion of the rocks of Marble Mountain. 

Paleozoic limestones are largely represented, and are classed 
by this geologist in the following manner : i. Magnesian, a 
name sometimes applied to the Calciferous sandstone of New 
York, older than the Trenton. 2. Trenton or Fossiliferous. 
3. Delthyris, named for its predominant fossil, of the Lower 
Helderberg. 4. Pentamerus, L. Helderberg. 5. Water-lime, 
represented by what is locally called the Ribbon limestone, 
characterized by laminae of different shades. 6. Onondaga, 
a Devonian limestone occupying a very inconsiderable place. 

The Lower Helderberg limestones afford several varieties 
of limited distribution, locally known as " Fire Stone," a solid, 
fossiliferous rock, resisting in a remarkable degree the action 
of heat ; " Peth Stone," an argillaceous limestone, of a light 
blue color ; '' Old Quarry Stone," and ** Quarry Stone ; " the 
limestone last named contains fossils. 

The Magnesian Hmestone, a true dolomite, has a larger 
development in this State than all the others combined, and 



Plate VI. 




Breccia Corallina. 







r 




V 7 






^ 




Jt 



AvOi-iAZZETTO. 



ABM8TB0NQ & Co. LiTH. BoSTON, 



LIMESTONES OF THE UNITED STATES. 55 

on account of its texture and color makes a desirable building- 
stone. The white, crystalline limestones are regarded as 
marbles. 

A calcareous conglomerate and the Red Sandstone belong 
to the Triassic period, while the Cretaceous and Tertiary are 
represented by clays, marls, and sand. The Cretaceous Green 
Sand, valuable as a fertilizer, the most characteristic formation 
of the State, is loaded with marine fossils. The Terebratula 
Harlani bed, ninety miles in length, one mile in width, and 
from two to three feet in depth, is made up of the remains 
of this species of Brachiopod, pressed closely together. 

The Gr)^phaea beds, directly below the Terebratula Harlani, 
enclose some individuals of the Exogyra costata, weighing 
from three to four pounds. 

The serpentine of Hoboken is similar to that of Staten 
Island, and probably belongs to the same formation. It is 
thickly covered with drift and boulders, except on the eastern 
side, where it presents an outcrop rising forty or fifty feet. 
The walk to the Elysian Fields was cut in this rock. 

Pennsylvania. — The great Appalachian chain, running in a 
northeasterly direction from Georgia to the Gulf of St. Law- 
rence, a distance of 1,500 miles, and 50 miles in width, consists 
of several parallel ranges, embracing anticlinal and synclinal 
ridges and valleys, affording remarkable instances of folded 
strata. 

Lyell says that no European chain presents so striking an 
illustration of the persistency of such flexures, extending con- 
tinuously for long distances. This chain, completed at the 
close of the Paleozoic era, is, quoting from Le Conte, the 
monument of the ^eatest revolution which has taken place 
in the geological history of America. The Appalachians 
include Eozoic rocks, found in the Blue Ridge, in the High- 
lands of the Hudson, and the Adirondacks of New York. The 
Green Mountains, belonging to this great chain, were formed 
before the Silurian age, but the Alleghanies were not com- 
plete until the end of the Carboniferous period. 



56 ' LIMESTONES AND MARBLES. 

The thickness of the Paleozoic rocks in the Appalachians 
is enormous, the greatest being 55,000 and the average 40,000 
feet; in Pennsylvania they reach 45,000 feet. It has been 
stated that if the Appalachian strata were now resting 
as they were deposited, the mountains of this chain would 
equal in height the Himalayas with the Alps atop, whereas, 
their greatest height does not reach 7,000 feet, and their mean 
altitude is only about 3,000, Of this prodigious mass of rock 
only one-fourth consists of limestones, while in the Mississippi 
Basin they comprise two-thirds of all the Paleozoic strata. 

In Pennsylvania, limestone formations attain great thick- 
ness and considerable extent, though sandstones and shales 
exceed, by far, the calcareous deposits, the Black shale varying 
in thickness from 10,000 to 20,000 feet. H. D. Rogers, who 
has named the various formations of Pennsylvania according 
to the natural divisions of the day, a nomenclature not gener- 
ally adopted, has included in his " Auroral " series a part of 
the Calciferous, the Chazy, and the Black River of New York, 
equivalent to the Blue limestone of the Western States. 

The "Auroral" strata consist largely of magnesian lime- 
stone, found throughout the entire length of the Appa- 
lachian chain, reaching in places a thickness of from 3,000 to 
6,000 feet. It is variable in character, and in Pennsylvania 
is generally light-blue or bluish-gray, constituting the prin- 
cipal rock of the valley of the Schuykill, in Montgomery and 
Chester Counties, a region diversified by woodland tracts and 
cultivated farms, watered by numerous streams, bordered by 
flourishing villages and busy factories. In the valley of the 
Lower Susquehanna, and on a branch of the Antietam, it ap- 
pears as white limestone, capable of being used as marble. 
The upper members, corresponding to the Chazy and the 
Black River limestones, are replete with fossils. 

The Trenton limestone, or " Martinal " of Rogers, is not 
found south of the Kittatinny Valley, but appears and disap- 
pears at intervals from the Delaware to Maryland. It is from 
300 to more than 500 feet thick, and full of organic remains, 



LIMESTONES OF THE UNITED STATES. 57 

the prevailing types being Chaetetes, Leptaena, and Bellero- 
phon. 

The CHnton, or *' Surgent," and the Niagara, essentially a 
limestone formation in other States, include only thin beds of 
this rock in Pennsylvania. The Water-lime group comprises 
a massive limestone, full of fossils, corals predominating, 
while above this formation rests a mottled stone convertible 
into marble. The upper member of the L. Helderberg, " Pre- 
Meridian," a massive, fossiliferous limestone, is nearly every- 
where present west of the Susquehanna. 

The Corniferous series of the Devonian era, interesting for 
its fossils, and constituting one of the most extensive for- 
mations of New York and the Northwest, covers but an insig- 
nificant area in this State. 

The rocks of the Subcarboniferous period are, for the most 
part, limestones in the Mississippi Basin ; here they include 
only a few calcareous strata in the southeast, but in the south- 
west they become independent formations. 

The blue and black Pittsburg limestone of the Carbonif- 
erous period, enclosing Crinoids, is twenty-five feet thick ; the 
Great limestone of the same age, spreading from Pittsburg to 
the borders of Virginia, is non-fossiliferous and extremely 
variable in thickness and composition. It is blue, black, or 
yellow, and very hard ; the yellow being susceptible of polish, 
may be used as marble. The Great limestone covers the 
highest hills and forms the escarpments along the streams of 
Alleghany and Westmoreland Counties; it is valuable for 
construction and as a fertilizer. 

Maryland and Delaware. — Paleozoic rocks are represented 
by a massive limestone of the Water-lime group, which, on 
the Potomac, is 500 feet thick. It encloses few species of 
fossils, but numerous individuals, Crinoids constituting the 
most prevalent type. 

The Triassic system appears in sandstones and calcareous 
conglomerates, while the Cretaceous is represented by lime- 
stones which cross Delaware and Maryland between Annapolis 



58 LIMESTONES AND MARBLES. 

and Baltimore, stretching towards the southwest into Virginia. 
In the northern counties, the limestones are largely magnesian, 
and in Baltimore and Ann Arundel counties they are capable 
of yielding marbles. 

The calcareous rocks at Harper's Ferry assume a distinctive 
character, passing from ordinary blue limestone to fine-grained 
marble of variable colors, which furnished the material for the 
conglomerate on the banks of the Potomac, known as the 
"Potomac marble," used in the colonnade of the House of 
Representatives and other parts of the National Capitol. 
White marble, considered equal to statuary, is met with in 
some localities. 

The Maryland limestones, like those of other regions, pre- 
sent considerable variety in color, texture, and composition. 
The term "alum limestone" has been applied by some geol- 
ogists to a very fine variety containing much calc spar. 
Those of Maryland include both "alum" and magnesian lime- 
stones, either crystalline or compact, and white, light-tinted 
or darker-colored. 

The strata east of Antietam yield marbles, and those on the 
west are peculiar in composition, furnishing the soil of the 
region known as the " SaUsbury tract" which, it is stated, 
cracks and freezes, rendering it unsuitable for vegetation at 
some seasons of the year. 

The prevailing rocks of Delaware belong to the granitic 
group, while limestone covers a small extent compared with 
gneiss. At Pike's Creek, near the State line, it is largely 
developed, yielding both coarse and fine marbles, generally 
white, but occasionally of a bluish tint. 

There is a small mass of light and dark green serpentine 
displayed near Wilmington, and another near Baltimore. A 
very white, coarse-grained marble, used in the construction of 
the Washington Monument, is known as the "Baltimore 
Crystal." 

Virginia a7td West Virginia. — The oldest rocks in Virginia 
are the Eozoic, found in the Blue Ridge, extending to Rich^ 



LIMESTONES OF THE UNITED STATES. 59 

mond, and in West Virginia.; but the great valley between the 
Blue Ridge and the Alleghanies develops, on a grand scale, 
Paleozoic strata largely calcareous, including limestone, dolo- 
mite, gypsum, and shale. The Niagara formation, one of the 
most widely-diffused on the continent, is, in this region, 1,500 
feet thick. 

The Carboniferous limestones increase in extent towards 
the southwest, reaching to Alabama and Mississippi. The 
Chester limestone of the Sub-carboniferous period, and some 
thin beds of Carboniferous among the Coal Measures, are 
developed in West Virginia, but the largest display of Paleozoic, 
limestones are seen on the Ohio River. An impure limestone 
occurs on the Potomac, which, in extending towards the west, 
gains in thickness from 80 to 800 feet. 

The Cretaceous rocks of the Atlantic border cross the 
Potomac and are seen extending towards the south for some 
distance, when they are lost to view, but they reappear with 
a small development in North and South Carolina. On the 
upper course of the Potomac, limestone cliffs of great height 
form a marked feature of the landscape. 

The Tertiary of Virginia occupies a wide area on the At- 
lantic, and is remarkable for accumulations of fossil remains. 
Besides the Infusorial beds, in some places thirty feet in 
thickness, there are other deposits consisting almost entirely 
of fossil shells. A series of these beds enclosing the Pecten, 
Ostrea, Chama, and Venus, some of large size, occurs at one 
locality on the James River, and more are found in other 
places. These aggregations of the flora and fauna of the 
Tertiary period in this State, afford interesting studies for the 
paleontologist. 

The Virginia limestones, comprehending, according to W. 
B. Rogers, nearly forty varieties, yield many different mar- 
bles, some of which are fossiliferous. A white marble, shaded 
with pink and sometimes green, is obtained from a talcose 
limestone ; and a granular, sparry variety of blue and gray, 
tinted with rose, is found on the Rapidan. A very delicate 



60 LIMESTONES AND MARBLES. 

salmon-colored marble, and another of a dark slate color may- 
be added to the list of Virginia marbles. 

TJie Carolinas. — The rock systems of North Carolina have 
been assigned by Emmons to the Recent or Quaternary, the 
Tertiary, the Cretaceous, the Permian being doubtful, and, 
Dana adds, the Triassic and the Archaean or Eozoic ; the 
latter are found in the Blue Ridge. The Triassic system 
forms a band from eight to eighteen miles in width, crossing 
the State from north to south through the central part. 
Granite, gneiss, mica schist, and Taconic slates form a large 
part of the rocks, while limestones have only a limited develop- 
ment and are destitute of fossils ; it is therefore difficult to 
determine their geological age. The limestone of King's 
Mountain is of a dark color, that of Lincoln County is white, 
fine, and even-grained, suitable for statuary marble. 

The Eozoic and Triassic rocks of North Carolina have 
penetrated South Carolina in the north, central, and western 
portions, and the Cretaceous occupy a narrow strip along the 
Atlantic coast. Limestones, in this State, have a larger 
development than in North Carolina, A white or blue crystal- 
line limestone occurs on the Saluda, in the western part, but 
the best known and most extensive beds of this rock are 
found in the Spartanburg District, in the northwest. On the 
frontier, near King's Mountain, it forms a beautiful blue 
marble with veins of white calcite marked with gray and red- 
dish bands, and is suitable for an ornamental stone. The 
Spartanburg limestone, or marble, varies in thickness from 
30 to 300 feet, but it is not easily accessible. The Santee 
beds of the Tertiary, found near Charleston, include thick 
layers of white limestone; in this region also occurs the 
Buhrstone formation. 

Georgia and Florida. — It is said that no rocks have been 
found in Florida older than the Vicksburg group, Upper 
Eocene, and the peninsula is thought to be a prolongation of 
the limestones of Georgia, where the Middle and Upper 
Eocene beds, corresponding to the Alabama period, are 



LIMESTONES OF THE UNITED STATES. 6l 

extensively developed. From Macon, Georgia, the great 
southern Cretaceous formation passes into the Mississippi 
Basin. 

The Orbitoidal limestone of the Vicksburg group, is the 
prevailing rock of Florida, according to E. A. Smith, and is 
everywhere in this State, as it is in Mississippi and Alabama, 
covered with the Orange sand and a yellow loam. It is 
exposed along the banks of streams, in ravines, and sometimes 
it outcrops upon level ground near the numerous boiling 
springs, and is characterized by "sink holes," ponds, and 
lakes. In 1871, says this geologist, the outlet of a small 
creek becoming closed, a' lake was formed several miles wide 
and from fifteen to twenty feet in depth. 

In Jackson County, in the northwestern part of the State, 
this formation lies near the surface, giving to the soil a very 
fertile character, and is used for construction in this and other 
places. It is thought the limestone underlies nearly all the 
western, middle, and southern counties, though not developed 
on the surface, and as it occurs on the southwestern and 
southern borders of Okefinokee Swamp, in Georgia, the prob- 
ability is that it extends over the whole region, and, it is 
possible, the Everglades of Florida. 

All the coast of East Floricia is calcareous, and the most 
characteristic formation is the Coral reef, still in progress of 
construction. 



CHAPTER V. 

LIMESTONES OF THE UNITED STATES {Continued). 

Valley of the Mississippl — Many of the extensive for- 
mations of the Atlantic border have crossed the Appalachians, 
and appear in the Mississippi basin under new titles, without 
change in their general features. 

OJiio. — The Lower Silurian is represented by the Cincin- 
nati group, abounding in fossils, and the Blue limestone, ex- 
tensively quarried for building. 

The Niagara limestone, the great representative formation 
of the Upper Silurian, includes, in this State, the Guelph, a 
name borrowed from the Canadian, the Springfield, the West 
Union, and the Dayton. The Niagara group, which abounds 
in fossils in other regions, is comparatively deficient in re- 
mains, in Ohio. The Clinton of the same period includes a 
larger number of fossils, and is especially rich in Corals and 
Crinoids, which often constitute the mass of rock. This for- 
mation is valuable for the petroleum it yields. 

The Water-lime, a magnesian rock, includes several varieties, 
and covers a large area; it abounds in *' sink-holes," or caves 
with the roof fallen in, as may be seen in Put-in-Bay Island, 
whose whole surface appears to be honeycombed by sub- 
terranean galleries. 

The limestone is employed for hydraulic lime, and in the 
western part of the State for architectural purposes. 

The Oriskany group, which is mostly sandstone in New 
York, is partially represented by limestones in this and other 
States of the Mississippi basin. What is called the Cliff 
62 



LIMESTONES OF THE UNITED STATES. 63 

limestone includes strata belonging both to the Niagara and 
the Lower Helderberg. 

The limestones of the Devonian system appear in the 
Hamilton and the Corniferous series, forming a group of con- 
siderable importance. The Corniferous affords one of the 
most extensive formations _in the State, and is exceedingly 
interesting to the paleontologist, being a vast storehouse of 
organic remains, comprising corals, shells, fishes, and land- 
plants. 

The limestone includes the varieties Columbus, which is 
white ; and the Sandusky, sometimes exhibiting a dark-gray, 
and sometimes a light color, quarried under the name of 
*' Sandusky stone." It has been used for buildings in San- 
dusky, Toledo, and other western cities. 

A Crinoidal limestone, occupying a place between the coal 
beds, is very important for determining the age of strata on 
account of the large number and variety of its fossils. 

The Carboniferous or Mountain limestone, formerly sup- 
posed to be wanting in Ohio, is best displayed in the central 
part of the State, where it receives the name of Maxwell lime- 
stone. It is a gray, magnesian, compact rock, with few 
fossils, badly preserved. The Waverly group, which supplies 
the well-known sandstone so extensively used in building, is 
rich in the fauna of the Carboniferous types. 

The Hanging Rock District develops a great variety of 
limestones, bearing different local names and varying in color, 
texture, composition, and other characteristics. The Shawnee 
or Buff is quite pure, consisting of ninety-three per cent of 
lime, while the Cambridge or Black is one of the most 
persistent. 

Ohio is well supplied with excellent building materials, 
consisting largely of limestones and sandstones. The **Berea 
Grit," quarried as " Amherst stone," makes a desirable archi- 
tectural stone for its durability, texture, and color. 

Indiana. — One of the most valuable properties of a build- 
ing stone is the power of resistance to crushing weight, which 



64 LIMESTONES AND MARBLES. 

varies from about 16,000 to 6,000 pounds, or less, to the square 
inch. 

The North Vernon Blue stone of Indiana, of the Hamilton 
epoch, is nearly pure carbonate of lime, and, according to 
Cox, will sustain a weight of 15,750 pounds to the square inch, 
while a cubic foot weighs 165.43 pounds. It is evident, there- 
fore, that as a building stone this limestone forms a valuable 
acquisition to the mineral resources of the State. 

The power of resistance of the St. Louis limestone is much 
less than that of the North Vernon, being 7,500 pounds, but 
is superior to that of the magnesian limestone of England, 
extensively used in building, which is stated to be 5,219 
pounds ; it also surpasses the Portland stone in strength and 
density. This formation affords immense blocks nearly as 
long as the longest found at the ruins of Baalbec, in the 
Turkish Empire. Mr. Cox saw at the Bedford quarry, in this 
State, a block sixty-six feet in length, while others of sufficient 
size to duplicate Cleopatra's Needle, as he remarks, might be 
cut from the same place. 

* Most of the Carboniferous limestones of Indiana are identi- 
cal with those of Missouri, where they received their names. 

The St. Louis is oolitic, of the Sub-carboniferous period, 
varying from grayish to chalk-white, and has been called 
" Cavernous limestone " from the number of caves it con- 
tains, among these the Mammoth in Kentucky, and Wier's in 
Virginia. The Carboniferous limestones form many of the 
noted caverns of other countries, a fact illustrated by the 
Kirkdale of England, Antiparos in Greece, and those of 
Franconia. 

The beautiful White Oolite of the St. Louis group, thought 
by some to be a chemical deposit on account of its brilliancy, 
structure, and capacity for polish, makes a valuable ornamental 
stone. 

The light-gray Baalbec marble, recently brought into notice, 
belongs to this group and is very pure, averaging nearly ninety- 
seven per cent, of carbonate of lime, with a crushing strength 



LIMESTONES OF THE UNITED STATES. 65 

of 11,750 pounds, and a weight of 146.56 pounds to the cubic 
foot. The stone is very hard and admits .of a high polish. 

The Keokuk group includes several varieties of limestones, 
but is best known for the Geode beds. 

Geodes, one of the curiosities of geology, are balls of rock, 
with a rough exterior, and the interior filled with crystals of 
quartz, calcite, or some other mineral. The cavities are sup- 
posed to be formed by the decay of animal or vegetable 
matter, and subsequently filled with water holding in solution 
silica or calcite, which crystallizes on the evaporation of the 
water. 

The Chester group is represented by the Archimedes or 
Kaskaskia limestone, loaded with fossils. 

Nearly every State presents some phenomena which form 
a peculiarity in its geological history. One of the features 
of Indiana is its caverns. Borden Cave, recently discovered 
in Harrison County, includes only a few apartments which 
have been explored, but the Wyandotte Cavern, in Crawford 
County, is one of the most extensive and remarkable in the 
country. 

The history of caves affords an illustration of the wonderful 
power they exercise over the imagination, as do most things 
that belong to the realms of mystery, darkness, stillness, and 
immensity. The chill atmosphere, the overpowering silence, 
the ghost-like forms, strike the visitor with awe and hold him 
spell-bound. 

Caves are not peculiar to any one country, but are found in 
nearly all regions, and have been used as dwellings, temples, 
sepulchres, and retreats from enemies. Ancient records 
allude to them ; they are mentioned in the Bible, and classic 
writers have made them the resort of divinities whence oracles 
were delivered. 

The limestones of the Sub-carboniferous formation, in which 
many of the caverns occur, are, in the United States, of great 
thickness, from 1,000 to 1,200 feet, therefore the caverns are 
on a grand scale. 



66 LIMESTONES AND MARBLES. 

The rocks of Wyandotte Cave, formerly called Salt Petre, 
consist of a gray limestone, enclosing the fossil Archimedes, 
the White Oolite, and an Encrinal limestone. In this mass 
of strata have been formed numerous large cavities, assuming 
the appearance of halls, arches, flights of steps, corridors, 
avenues, bridges, chasms, all differing from one another in 
size, beauty, and magnificence. One of the apartments, called 
Bandit's Hall, is frescoed with starry gypsum ; on the pave- 
ment lies a solid cube of limestone, twenty feet square, which 
was detached from the roof ninety feet above. Ascending 
several steps and passing through various apartments, another 
hall is reached two hundred and ten feet long, with walls of 
solid limestone supporting a dome, whose crown, adorned with 
heavy mouldings, is eighty feet from the floor. On one hand 
is represented a phantom ship, with " sails unfurled and 'rud- 
der set," and on the other a marble cascade, with its noiseless, 
motionless fall. 

The room called the Senate Chamber, is a vast ellipse, six 
hundred feet in the longest diameter, and one hundred and fifty 
in the shortest, enclosing a mountain of white, lustrous spar, 
from whose top arises a fluted column, called the Pillar of the 
Constitution, twenty-five feet in diameter, reaching to the 
centre of the dome. Near the Pillar hangs Independence 
Bell, which, it is said, when gently struck, gives out a clear, 
musical note; the Chair of State is enveloped in snowy cur- 
tains of marble folds. Sprigs, leaves, tendrils, and mosses, 
are exquisitely wrought in marble and gypsum, some pearly 
white and flecked by the iridescent nacre of sea-shells. A 
part of the chasms and avenues are filled with beds full of the 
fossils characteristic of the Carboniferous formation. 

More than two miles from the entrance, says the writer 
from whom these facts were gathered, at the utmost limit of 
the cavern, occurs a dark, gloomy apartment called Pluto's 
Regions. The entire length of the galleries of Wyandotte 
Cave is reckoned twenty-five miles, and it is thought to be 
equal in size to the Mammoth Cave of Kentucky. The largest 



% 



LIMESTONES OF THE UNITED STATES. 6/ 

room is two hundred and forty-five feet in height and three 
hundred and fifty in length. 

Illmois. — The Eozoic, Triassic, Jurassic, and Cretaceous 
formations are not developed in Illinois, but Worthen thinks 
the oldest rocks, though not brought to the surface, may 
underlie the whole area. There are only few places in the 
State that exhibit indications of metamorphism, and these 
occur in the southern part. 

The limestones of Illinois, which constitute a large part of 
the rocks, are largely Sub-carboniferous, having an aggregated 
thickness of about 1,500 feet. They are arranged in several 
groups : the Chester, St. Louis, Keokuk, Burlington, and 
Kinderhook, all of which are found in other States of the 
Mississippi basin. 

The Chester limestone, the most recent of the group, rs 
from five hundred to eight hundred feet thick, and includes 
several distinct beds. It is gray, coarsely granular, and full 
of fossils, some of the Cephalopods being of very large size. 
It furnishes good building material and a fertile soil, sus- 
taining some of the finest peach-orchards in the southern part 
of the State. The " Pentremital," and " Upper Archimedes " 
or Kaskaskia, are included in the group. 

Below the Chester limestone occurs the St. Louis group, 
comprising very pure limestones of light-gray and dark colors, 
sometimes affording a fine, compact, black marble. It pre- 
sents so great a variety that it can be recognized only by its 
remains, the most characteristic, from northern Illinois to 
Alabama, being the coral genus Lithostrotion. The beds at 
Warsaw, on the Mississippi, contain great numbers of the 
remarkable Bryozoa called Archimedes Wortheni. The group 
yields excellent building-stone, and some varieties are suitable 
for marble, particularly portions of the oolitic beds, but it 
contains numerous " sink holes," which once formed entrances 
to caves, now filled with sediments and covered with small 
ponds. 

The Keokuk group embraces the Geode beds, the gray 



6S LIMESTONES AND MARBLES. 

limestone of Keokuk and Nauvoo, and some chert beds, and 
affords more important minerals than are found in any other 
group in the State. The geodes, which have been sent to 
nearly all the cabinets of the world, are filled with crystals of 
quartz, calcite, dolomite, zinc, blende, and other minerals. 
Fossil shells and corals of great beauty and variety are 
numerous in the Keokuk limestone, which also furnishes a 
great number of vertebrates. It has been used in construc- 
tion, as in the Mormon Temple at Nauvoo, and the Custom- 
Houses at Galena and Dubuque. 

Immediately undef the Keokuk, lies the Burlington lime- 
stone, which has a remarkable development in Burlington, 
Iowa. It is exceedingly rich in fossils, especially Crinoids or 
Sea-lilies, and affords, as stated by Worthen, a greater number 
of species and individuals than all other Paleozoic rocks on 
this continent combined. This formation has an equivalent 
in what is called the Quincy limestone. 

The Kinderhook, named for the place where it was first 
examined, including the Chouteau and a lithographic lime- 
stone, is of variable character in regard to fossils, which are 
sometimes abundant, at other times rare; this is also true 
of the Devonian limestones of Illinois. 

A mass of yellow limestone, three hundred feet thick, partly 
Devonian and partly Silurian, forming the bluffs on the Missis- 
sippi, in the southern part of the State, is known by the name 
of the Clear Creek limestone. 

The Niagara limestone. Upper Silurian, occupies a large 
area in Northern Illinois, and forms the fundamental rock. 
In some places it presents a brown or buff dolomite variety, 
while in others it is a yellowish, concretionary, or brecciated 
stone. Near Chicago it is charged with petroleum, which 
gathers in pools or floats on the water, filling the old quarries. 
It is stated that though the rock is completely saturated with 
the oil, yet in consequence of its compact texture, this forma- 
tion cannot be used as an oil-producing deposit. At Athens, 
the Niagara yields a gray, compact limestone, susceptible of 



LIMESTONES OF THE UNITED STATES. 69 

a fine polish, called the " Athens marble," and is used for an 
ornamental stone at Chicago and other places. The Joliet, 
belonging to this formation, affords an excellent stone for 
building and flagstones. 

The Trenton group of Illinois comprises the lead-bearing 
Galena, and a blue and buff .limestone. The Galena is the 
most important formation in the State for its valuable ore, 
affording lead and zinc mines, and is described by Prof. J. D. 
Whitney as a thick-bedded, light-gray, or yellowish-gray dolo- 
mite, of crystalline texture inclining to granular, but some- 
times compact. The streams of northwestern Illinois and 
Iowa are bordered by cliffs composed of this rock, which pre- 
sent the appearance of ruined towers and castles, notably in 
the vicinity of Dubuque and Galena ; most of its fossils are 
in the form of casts. The Trenton limestone, found in the 
southern part of the State, is light-gray, semi-crystalline, 
taking a fine polish and used for an ornamental stone. In 
Missouri it is quarried under the name of Cape Girardeau 
marble. 

The Calciferous or Lower Magnesian limestone, considered 
the oldest rock yet discovered in the State, rests immediately 
below the St. Peter s sandstone, a formation of great impor- 
tance in the manufacture of glass. It is almost pure silica, and 
is the equivalent of the " saccharoidal sandstone " of Missouri, 
employed at the Pittsburg glass-works. 

Michigan. — The Eozoic rocks are represented by crystal- 
line limestones found in the Menominee, iron region of the 
Upper Peninsula, and the Lower Silurian are represented by 
the Chazy and the Trenton limestones, including the Black 
River and the Bird's Eye varieties. The Trenton group, very 
similar to that of New York, underlies a considerable part of 
this Peninsula, where it yields fewer fossils than in some other 
places, but they include the great diversity usually found in 
this formation. The Chazy affords a variety of limestones, 
including coarse-grained, white, dolomitic, oolitic, arenaceous, 
and nodular varieties, with large masses of the Stromatopora. 



70 LIMESTONES AND MARBLES. 

A nodular kind of either the Chazy or the Trenton is called 
"Wedge-shaped" limestone. The Cincinnati affords a dark 
bluish-gray limestone, enclosing the fossil Chaetetes, with 
stems of Crinoids crystallized by calc spar, and occasionally 
by violet fluor spar. 

Nearly all the southern part of the Upper Peninsula is cov- 
ered by the Niagara group, which is essentially limestone, 
mostly magnesian, embracing several varieties, some of which 
are pure limestones. The formation is highly fossiliferous, 
and on Drummond's Island, in Lake Huron, there is a large 
accumulation of organic remains, while at Point Delane they 
form almost the entire mass of rock. In the corals replaced 
by silica, the polyps have been preserved in a nearly perfect 
state ; beautiful specimens are found on Whitney Bay. 

The white marble-like deposits between the lower strata of 
the Burnt Bluff region are almost pure carbonate of lime. 

The Clinton group. Upper Silurian, appears in Michigan 
with peculiar fossils, and the Lower Helderberg of the same 
period is recognized by gray and blue limestones and dolo- 
mites of fine crystalline structure. 

The Corniferous, of the Devonian period, occupying the 
southeastern part of the State, embraces a light-colored lime- 
stone with concretions of hornstone, and numerous fossils not 
well preserved. The Hamilton group in New York is essen- 
tially a shale formation, but in Michigan it is, to a great 
extent, calcareous, and represented by limestones crowded with 
fossils, especially corals, and a light-gray dolomite. Portions 
of these beds are capable of yielding a decorative stone, but 
the mass of the rock is not sufficiently compact to be used for 
marble. 

The Carboniferous formation is very unequal in its develop- 
ment and characteristics in this State, the upper part consist- 
ing of a limestone similar to the Sub-carboniferous found 
throughout the Mississippi valley, while the lower beds are 
gypseous, and have been called the Michigan salt group. 

The calcareous rocks of this period are variable in color 



Plate VII. 




Rose Alabaster. 




Caufornia Alabaster. 



AHMSTBOS 6 A Co. LiTM. BoiTO> 



LIMESTONES OF THE UNITED STATES. /I 

and structure, and are replete with fossils characteristic of the 
formation. At Grand Rapids, the gypsum beds are quarried 
for ornamental stone. 

Michigan yields a rich harvest of Paleozoic remains, espe- 
cially Corals, where Favosites are largely represented, and 
Alveolites, Halysites, Syringopora, Columnaria, Cyathophyl- 
lum, Lithostrotion, Zaphrentes, and many other genera are 
more or less abundant. 

From the " Reports of Rominger," we learn that the entire 
surface of the Lower Peninsula, with few exceptions, is cov- 
ered with drift deposits, resting on Paleozoic rocks. 

Travertine is sometimes found in large masses on the sides 
of hills abounding in springs, while the bottom of some inland 
lakes are covered with white marl, composed of the shells of 
fresh-water Mollusks and carbonate of lime, affording an in- 
stance of a lacustrine limestone in its early stages of formation. 

Wisconsi7i. — Limestones form no inconsiderable part of the 
rocks of the Upper Mississippi, embracing the States of Wis- 
consin, Iowa, and Minnesota. The central and north central 
areas of Wisconsin are covered with Eozoic rocks, both 
Laurentian and Huronian, principally the former, embracing 
granites, porphyries, and quartzites, while trap is displayed 
in high escarpments on the St. Croix. Silurian calcareous 
strata, both Lower and Upper, have their types in this State, 
though frequently appearing with local names. 

The formation called the Calciferous sandstone in New 
York has been designated by Owen the Lower Magnesian, 
a name adopted throughout the West. Though enclosing 
organic remains, these are so imperfect that the rock was 
formerly believed to be unfossiliferous. The mass, in some 
localities, according to Hall and Whitney, is concretionary or 
brecciated, and usually of a grayish-white or ash-color, finely- 
crystalline and compact, yielding minerals and metallic ores. 
This limestone occurs in massive walls, often fissured, and 
presents everywhere the most picturesque scenery, frequently 
simulating ruined castles and fortifications. It has not the 



'J2 LIMESTONES AND MARBLES. 

grandeur, says Owen, often seen in other formations ; there 
are no lofty peaks, no dark, narrow gorges with rushing tor- 
rents, no precipitous defiles, no contorted strata, but with 
walls and rounded towers are found steep cliffs and crystal 
streams, with clumps of trees as ornaments to the pictorial 
landscape. 

St. Peter's limestone, receiving its local name from St. 
Peter's River, has no great thickness, but is rich in organic 
remains of the Lower Silurian type. The Chazy has not a 
well-defined character, either in this State or the West gen- 
erally; the Trenton group, so persistent in other States, 
appears in Wisconsin as Blue, Buff, Cliff, and Galena lime- 
stones ; the latter covering a large portion of the State. The 
Cincinnati, and an impure limestone called Mendota, form a 
part of the Lower Silurian series. 

The Niagara limestone occupies a large area, extending 
north and south two hundred miles, and is quite uniform in 
its character. It forms the upper portion of the ''mounds," 
and from that circumstance has been called the Mound lime- 
stone. It includes the Guclph, Racine, Waukesha, and May- 
ville beds. The Racine limestone is yellowish, friable, and 
readily decomposes by exposure to the air, hence it is worth- 
less as a building-stone. The Waukesha, identical with the 
Le Claire of Iowa, is a tough, compact, magnesian rock of a 
gray or buff color. The Niagara is, everywhere in the West, 
essentially a coralline limestone, but in Wisconsin, nearly all 
fossils are in a very imperfect condition. 

Iowa. — The Transition or Paleozoic limestones of Iowa, 
beginning at the Mississippi, extend in a succession of bands 
towards the northwest. The most southerly of these bands 
is the Carboniferous series, which has a large development at 
Burlington, including the Encrinal or Burlington, the Keokuk 
or Archimedes, the Warsaw, the St. Louis, and the Kas- 
kaskia or Pentremital limestones. The Burlington limestone 
yields a rich harvest of fossils, more than three hundred 
species having been discovered, which are important to the 



LIMESTONES OF THE UNITED STATES. 73 

paleontologist, it is claimed, in forming important links in 
the great chain of organic life. This limestone, which has 
not been recognized beyond Iowa, Missouri, and Illinois, in 
some of the beds, consists of nearly pure carbonate of lime 
capable of a polish, and is extensively quarried for building 
purposes. 

The Carboniferous group, including the Geode beds and a 
magnesian limestone, is of economic value for building and 
lime. 

Proceeding north, the Devonian strata form the next band, 
taking the same direction as the Carboniferous formation. 
The Niagara group of the Upper Silurian follows, embracing 
the Le Claire limestone, having the same general trend but 
vanishing about one-third the distance; then the Niagara, 
with a much more extensive distribution, while the Galena 
and the Trenton of the Lower Silurian, covering a smaller 
area, form the most northerly zone of Paleozoic rocks. 

The Le Claire limestone, of a gray or whitish color, de- 
veloped at the Rapids of Le Claire, rests upon the Niagara. 

The superficial area covered by the Devonian rocks in 
Iowa is inconsiderable ; they are calcareous, comprising lime- 
stones of great purity, generally light-colored, and in texture 
resembling lithographic stone, including both concretionary 
and brecciated varieties. The Devonian strata of the Cedar 
and the Iowa valleys comprise what are called the lower 
coralline beds, the shell beds, and the upper Coralline lime- 
stone. In the lower beds occurs the coral Acervularia, the 
characteristic fossil of the Iowa marble, a limestone seldom 
found in masses of sufficient size for commerce ; but a cream- 
colored limestone of Cedar River has been employed for 
monumental stone. On the Iowa River, Carboniferous lime- 
stone forms elevations resembling immense roofs with sloping 
sides. 

The rocks of Iowa, as well as of other western States, are 
deeply buried beneath a rich, black soil of drift, overspread 
with thick prairie grass, and are seldom brought to the surface 



74 LIMESTONES AND MARBLES. 

except in the deep cuts of the streams ; hence the examina- 
tion of strata is attended with great difficulty. The investiga- 
tion of the organic remains enclosed in the Sub-carboniferous 
beds is highly important in searching for the coal-measures, 
since certain fossils are always found below and never above 
them. 

Missouri. — Some of the oldest rocks are developed in Mis- 
souri, including the ** Marble beds " in Madison County in the 
southeastern part of the State, which have been referred to 
the Laurentian series by some, and to the Primordial by 
others. 

The Paleozoic limestones of this section include some of the 
varieties of other States, with a few bearing local names with 
or without equivalents. 

Magnesian limestones have a large development and are 
divided into four classes. The First magnesian limestone, 
characterized by the fossil Cytherea, is generally buff color, 
thick, even-bedded, and suitable for buildings. The Second 
magnesian encloses fossils analogous to those of the Calcifer- 
ous rocks of New York, which would place it in the Lower 
Silurian, and it is often lead-bearing. The Third magnesian 
limestone of the Lower Silurian is an important member, 
being the chief lead-producing rock of the central and south- 
central region, and forming the hills of lead ore in this part 
of the State. It is gray and crystalline, with numerous fissures 
filled with Galena, and is from three hundred to six hundred 
feet thick. The Fourth magnesian limestone resembles the 
Third. 

The Galena limestone of Illinois and Iowa, of the Trenton 
group, is wanting in Missouri, but its place is supplied by the 
Receptaculite limestone, which receives the name from the 
predominant fossil enclosed. The Trenton, Black River, and 
Bird's Eye limestones are found here ; the last two mottled 
with drab and reddish colors, frequently yield marbles. 

The Upper Silurian is represented by the Niagara, and a 
Spirifer or Delthyris limestone. The Cape Girardeau lime- 



LIMESTONES OF THE UNITED STATES. 75 

Stone or marble has been placed both in the Upper and the 
Lower Silurian. 

The Devonian system appears in the Onondaga limestone 
with a very limited development, while the Carboniferous 
limestones, including Sub-carboniferous, afford a greater 
variety in this State than those of any other era. The Chester 
limestone is almost entirely wanting, but the St. Louis group, 
including the Warsaw and a sandy limestone with Archimedes 
and Pentremites, constitutes the entire mass of calcareous 
rocks at the city of St. Louis, where it reaches a larger de- 
velopment than in any other part of the State. The Keokuk 
group is very generally distributed in the southwest, and yields 
lead. 

The Burlington or Encrinital limestone, long used in Mis- 
souri for building material, has effectually resisted the dis- 
integrating influence of the atmosphere, thus proving its 
excellence for such a purpose. 

The Kinderhook group, comprising a coarse limestone and 
a fine compact variety called Lithographic stone, is better 
developed in Missouri than in Illinois and Iowa. Other 
varieties of Carboniferous limestones are represented by 
Fusilina, Chaetetes, and Rhomboidal limestones. The Chae- 
tetes is found projecting from the sides of hills, and is valuable 
in determining the position of coal. 

The Permian, Triassic, Jurassic, Cretaceous, and Tertiary 
formations are said to be wanting in Missouri. 

The Marble beds, from eight to twenty feet thick, found in 
the south part of the State, are variable in color and texture, 
presenting species of gray, buff and gray, red variegated with 
buff and white, red and white banded, and unicolored with 
dolomitic veins, most of them enclosing crystals of calcite, 
and sometimes quartz. The beds are interstratified with 
porphyries and serpentines. 

Paleozoic limestones yield some excellent marble ; the 
Silurian afford the Cape Girardeau and the McPherson ; the 
Devonian, the Cooper marble of the Onondaga limestone, a 



76 LIMESTONES AND MARBLES. 

fine, compact variety, enclosing spar; and the Carboniferous,- 
several varieties, including a beautiful oolitic marble from the 
Keokuk or Archimedes limestone, a white crystalline marble 
from the Encrinital, a fine, bluish-drab variety from the Litho- 
graphic, and the Fort Scott marble. A magnesian limestone 
develops a light-drab marble tinted and clouded with peach- 
blossom, forming a very pleasing stone for decoration. 

Tennessee. — Tennessee, the great marble-producing State 
of the Mississippi basin, possesses invaluable resources m this 
commodity, where immense bands of marble, extending many 
hundred feet in width, are cut by streams and railways, thus 
affording an easy and economical means of transportation. 
The marbles are embraced in many varieties of different 
geological periods, including Silurian and Carboniferous, and 
are extensively distributed throughout the State. They are 
generally fossiliferous, Crinoids and Corals being the char- 
acteristic remains. 

Where marbles are abundant there must be, of course, a 
large development of limestone formations, and these, with the 
marbles they yield, may be grouped as East, Middle, and West 
Tennessee limestones. 

In East Tennessee, the Calciferous and Quebec formations, 
Lower Silurian, include from 3,000 to 4,000 feet of limestone ; 
the Trenton, of the same era, embraces the lower beds of the 
Nashville group, and a blue and dove-colored lim.estone from 
which marbles are obtained. The upper strata of the Nash- 
ville are placed with the Utica and Cincinnati, the most 
recent members of the Lower Silurian. The Chazy is repre- 
sented by the Maclurea limestone, taking the name from its 
characteristic fossil, a large Gasteropod, and a blue and drab 
concretionary rock of a thickness varying from fifty to six hun- 
dred feet. A Quebec, dolomite limestone, enclosing Trilobites, 
breccia marbles and conglomerates, are comprised in the lime- 
stones of this section of the State. 

Most of the marbles of East Tennessee are Lower Silu- 
rian, usually heavy-bedded, and dipping at an average angle 



LIMESTONES OF THE UNITED STATES. 7/ 

of 45°, while those of Middle and West Tennessee are Tiori- 
zontal. 

Safford arranges the marbles of Tennessee in the fol- 
lowing classes : i. Variegated fossiliferous ; 2. Grayish- white 
fossiliferous ; 3. Magnesian ; 4. Black ; 5. Brecciated. The 
Variegated is the most important, and is found in all three 
divisions of the State, but is most abundant and of the best 
quality in Hawkins County, East Tennessee. Blocks of the 
Variegated, sent as a contribution to the Washington Monu- 
ment, says Safford, induced the Building Committee to employ 
this Tennessee marble in the extension of the National 
Capitol. 

The Grayish-white is only a species of the Variegated, and 
on account of its great number of Corals and Crinoids, is some- 
times called Coralline or Encrinal marble. It is below the 
Variegated, and forms a mass of light-gray, sparry limestone 
or marble, mottled with pink and red ; sometimes it is white. 
It is worked at Knoxville, and in commerce is often called 
Knoxville marble. These two varieties are, undoubtedly, of 
the Trenton period. 

The quarries of East Tennessee are numerous and scattered 
over a large region, and the marble obtained from the mines 
offers some variety. One kind is argillaceous with few organic 
remains, of. a dull grayish or brownish red, sometimes of a 
greenish tint, arranged in no definite form ; but the best and 
most important variety called, par excellence^ Marble of East 
Tennessee, is purer and more fossiliferous, of more lively 
colors, and with more distinct clouds and spots than the 
argillaceous. 

The Sub-carboniferous or Mountain limestone forms an 
extensive bed of blue and light-blue rock, occasionally oolitic, 
forming the base of the Cumberland table-land separating 
East from Middle Tennessee. 

The Lower Silurian of Middle Tennessee has its repre- 
sentatives in a blue limestone of the Trenton period, and 
those of the Nashville group. The limestones of the latter 



78 LIMESTONES AND MARBLES. 

are generally bluish-gray, sometimes nearly black, frequently 
enclosing green particles, presenting a gray marble with 
crystals of spar. Some of the beds are full of fossils, and 
receive a good polish, others are crossed by mineral veins. 
The central basin of this section is mostly covered by Silurian 
limestones, generally blue or dove-color; that of the Lower 
Helderberg appears in the form of a gray, Crinoidal lime- 
stone. 

The lower group of the Sub-carboniferous, includes Lithos- 
trotion or Coral beds, equivalent to the St. Louis, while the 
upper member consists of the blue Mountain limestone ; both 
groups are also found in East Tennessee. The marbles of 
Middle and West Tennessee are similar to those of East 
Tennessee, and are developed generally from the same 
formations. 

The Niagara formation is represented by the Meniscus 
limestone of West Tennessee, and a light-blue variety of the 
Lower Helderberg. 

Though the magnesian limestones of this State yield mar- 
bles, usually light-gray and pink, they are less valued than 
those derived from pure limestones. 

Most of the limestones of Tennessee are Paleozoic, but the 
Cretaceous formation, which crosses the State west of the 
Tennessee River, displays calcareous rocks in the form of 
Rotten Hmestone, with a thickness from two hundred to three 
hundred and fifty feet. The Tertiary system is represented 
by beds of lignite and»the Quaternary by drift deposits, which 
occur along the tributaries of this river. 

Kentitcky. — Kentucky as well as Tennessee, is a limestone 
region, but its marbles are less in quantity and variety. Most, 
if not all, of the calcareous formations, belong to the older 
sedimentary rocks, or those of the Paleozoic era ; the second- 
ary formations have a limited range in the State, being repre- 
sented by the Cretaceous, which crosses the western part from 
the State of Tennessee to the mouth of the Ohio. Beds of 
lignite belong to the Tertiary, and the Quaternary consists 



LIMESTONES OF THE UNITED STATES. 79 

of loam, marl, clays, and gravel enclosing Pleistocene mammal 
remains of gigantic size. 

The oldest limestone of Kentucky and the oldest known 
formation in the State, according to Owen, is the Blue lime- 
stone of the Lower Silurian, predominating in what is called 
the Blue-grass counties in Middle and North Kentucky. This 
formation, extending along the Ohio to the Cumberland, one 
of the most important in the State, has a thickness of five hun- 
dred feet, embracing many varieties full of organic remains. 
It varies in color, but the prevailing tint is bluish-gray with 
much calc spar, which gives it the appearance of marble, 
and when polished it is suitable for uses to which marble is 
applied. The region in which this formation is developed is 
celebrated for fertility, and is considered the garden of the 
State. Some of the varieties of the Blue limestone are the 
Bird's Eye, of a dove-color, smooth texture, with specks of 
spar, and yielding marble ; a gray Leptaena limestone, named 
from the predominance of a fossil of the Orthis family ; the 
Trenton, of dark color and fine grain ; Bellerophon, with a 
light gray color and granular texture ; magnesian, of a gray 
color ; and some other varieties characterized by the usual 
Lower Silurian fossils. 

The Kentucky marble, as it is called, is derived from the 
Bird's Eye limestone, of a light bluish-gray or dove-color, 
mottled with dark or light-buff, and generally interstratified 
with magnesian limestone. In the bold escarpments on the 
Kentucky, near the mouth of Duck's River, occur, says Owen, 
some of the finest expositions of this formation seen in the 
romantic cliffs of marble forming a deep gorge crossed by the 
suspension bridge of more than twelve hundred feet, at an 
elevation of four hundred feet above the river. A variety of 
the Lower Silurian limestone yields the Murchisonia marble, 
so called from the characteristic fossil Gasteropod. 

The Coralline or Falls limestone, corresponding to the Cor- 
niferous and Chemung of New York, of the Devonian era, is 
peculiar for the Cup-corals, Cyathophylloids, and the Honey- 



80 LIMESTONES AND MARBLES. 

comb corals, Favosites, which are so abundant as to present 
the similitude of a petrified coral reef. It is about fifty feet 
in depth, and has its largest development in the valley of the 
Ohio, and yields a soil only a little less productive than that 
of the Blue limestone. Its widest belt is in Jefferson County, 
on the Ohio, where it is eight miles in width, and covered by 
a large growth of timber. 

The Upper Magnesian or Cliff limestone, in the same 
county, probably corresponds to the Cliff limestone. Upper 
Silurian, found in Ohio. Beds of magnesian limestone form 
the surface stratum in this region, and they furnish shell and 
argillaceous limestones. A locality in Bullitt County is cele- 
brated for Encrinites, and an Encrinital limestone is developed 
in Shelby, Trimble, and Franklin Counties. A variety of the 
Niagara epoch is exposed in the southern counties, but yields 
a soil inferior to that of either the Blue or the Falls lime-, 
stone. 

The Blue-grass region, from the Ol^io to Virginia and Ten- 
nessee, is traversed by a belt of cone-shaped hills, arranged 
in groups called "knobs," composed of slates, shales, and grit 
of the Devonian age, frequently capped by limestones enclosing 
shells and corals, the whole called the Knobstone formation ; 
above this rests the Sub-carboniferous strata, composed chiefly 
of alternate beds of white, gray, and buff limestones. Notwith- 
standing the copious springs issuing from between these beds, 
the valleys are comparatively dry, says the State geologist, 
because the streams are engulfed by the numerous "sink 
holes " peculiar to this formation. In the southeastern part of 
the State the Carboniferous system appears in a line of bluffs 
and hill-slopes. 

The Sub-carboniferous limestone on the Ohio is, in places, 
four hundred or five hundred feet thick, and includes a reddish- 
yellow limestone enclosing Archimedes and Pentremites, and 
an oolite limestone affording cream-colored marble ; some of 
the Pentremites are nearly three inches in length. The 
largest of the caverns which are frequent in this formation is 



LIMESTONES IN THE UNITED STATES. 8 1 

the celebrated Mammoth Cave. The platform constituting 
the entrance to this cavern, consisting of limestone with some 
sandstone, is two hundred and thirty-two feet above the bed 
of Green River. The cave itself is eleven miles in length, 
with more than one hundred and fifty miles of rooms and 
passages, many of the apartments being enormously high, one 
of them nearly three hundred feet. These gigantic excava- 
tions in solid rock, forcibly illustrate the eroding • power of 
water, an agent supposed to produce in part these marvellous 
results. 

The upper division of the Sub-carboniferous formation is 
composed of the Archimedes and Pentremital limestones, 
while below are the Lithostrotion beds, or the Barren lime- 
stone group. What is called the Barrens includes a tract of 
land which was destitute of trees when the State was first 
settled, but has since been covered by a growth of forest vege- 
tation, and forms a fertile table-land consisting principally of 
the St. Louis limestone of this period. The Barren limestones 
vary in color from light-gray or cream-color to very dark, 
approaching black ; they often include hydraulic limestones, 
and sometimes a compact variety resembling the lithographic 
stone of Solenhofen, but without the uniform texture for 
which the latter is celebrated. This formation encloses ex- 
tensive deposits of oxide of iron, to which is due the red tints 
of the Barren lands, and in some localities it yields lead. The 
Keokuk or siliceous, the Chester, and perhaps some others, 
occur among the Sub-carboniferous limestones of Kentucky. 

Fayette County yields an unfossiliferous, light-gray lime- 
stone used for building, and the homogeneous, magnesian 
limestone employed for construction in Lexington, which 
furnished the block for the Washington Monument. Marble 
Hill, on the Ohio, affords a granular limestone or marble, of 
a warm or drab-gray, enclosing fragments of the Murchisonia 
and corals, having the cavities filled with beautiful transparent 
spar, sometimes colorless and sometimes pink or brown, con- 
stituting a rock susceptible of a good polish and appropriate 



82 LIMESTONES AND MARBLES. 

for ornamental uses ; it may be identical with the Murchi- 
sonia marble. 

The limestones of the Carboniferous period consist of thin 
beds between the Coal, extending over limited areas, and 
embracing what is locally called the Carthage limestone. The 
lower Coal beds yield only two kinds of limestones of any 
note, including variegated and a black variety, thought to be 
capable of yielding marble. Prof. Shaler, speaking of the 
flora of Kentucky, says that a change in formation produces 
immediate and marked effects on timber, but this change is 
less perceptible where the Keokuk or siliceous group has 
furnished the soil. 

Mississippi. — Only four of the geological periods, according 
to Hilgard, are^ represented in Mississippi, — the Carbonifer- 
ous, Cretaceous, Tertiary, and the Quaternary. Though 
limestones are not the predominant rocks, yet they are de- 
veloped in different parts of the State, to a greater or less 
extent, seen in a gray, crystalline limestone of the Carbonifer- 
ous era, a dark-colored hydraulic limestone forming the bold 
tops of the hills on the Yellow Creek, a gray fossiliferous 
and a black limestone without fossils, displayed at Cypress 
Pond, and the Rotten limestone of the Cretaceous period, 
found also in other States. The latter is a soft, chalky-white 
or pale-blue rock, enclosing a variety of fossils peculiar to the 
Chalk formation, which attains in Mississippi a great thick- 
ness. The Ripley group, Cretaceous, extending from this 
State into Alabama, is very fossiliferous, including white, 
crystalline hmestones frequently with glauconite ; one member 
of the series is called Turritella limestone, from the promi- 
nence of that elegant univalve. 

With the exception of the Orange Sand, the Tertiary 
deposits, said to occupy by far the greater portion of the State, 
embrace clays with lignite, sandstones, and limestones with 
organic remains. The Vicksburg group of the Upper Eocene, 
first studied at Vicksburg, is the youngest of the marine for- 
mations of Mississippi, and comprises lignite beds, a ferruginous 



LIMESTONES OF THE UNITED STATES. 83 

rock of Red Bluff, full of fossils, and a compact limestone 
eighty feet in thickness, called Orbitoidal limestone, bearing 
some analogy to the Nummulitic limestone of the Eastern 
Continent. The Vicksburg limestone, which is quite pure, 
has been used in building the town of Vicksburg. 

The Orange Sand, of the. Quaternary period, the character- 
istic formation of the State, consists of siliceous sand, usually 
of an orange or ochre yellow, but sometimes white, rose, crim- 
son, purple, and other tints, enclosing fossils of different 
periods, and frequently gems of the quartz family. 

Alabama. — The extreme southern limit of the Silurian 
system in Alabama is thought to be about the latitude of 33°, 
terminating in a limestone formation at Centreville, on the 
Cahawba, a branch of the Alabama. The group contains various 
limestones, both crystalline and compact, yielding marbles of 
variegated colors, comprising gray with red veins ; red and 
yellow ; a variety with greenish veins ; a buff with fossils ; 
white clouded with red.; black with white, and a magnesian 
marble of soft-gray. 

A limestone well-adapted for architecture, developed in the 
valley of the Talladega River, yields a gray and a fine white 
crystalline marble, said to compare well with Italian, which 
have been quarried for mortuary monuments. 

The largest display of Carboniferous limestones are seen 
north of the Tennessee River. 

At Huntsville, the Sub-carboniferous series consists prin- 
cipally of gray limestones which, with some beds of shale, are 
nine hundred feet thick. A part of the formation encloses 
Chester fossils, and a part those of the St. Louis group of 
Missouri. Some of the limestones of this vicinity display 
black and yellow colors, with beds yielding a yellow marble 
with black spots. 

The Cretaceous rocks of the Atlantic coast thin out in 
South Carolina, but farther inland, beginning at Macon, 
Georgia, they pass into the Mississippi Basin and are seen at 
Montgomery, Alabama. In this State they are two thousand 



84 LIMESTONES AND MARBLES. 

feet thick, and from nine hundred to eleven hundred feet, 
according to Dana, consist of the Rotten limestone. 

The Tertiary system is very prevalent in this State, and is, 
perhaps, better known than any other, on account of its 
numerous and interesting organic remains. What is called 
the Alabama period of the Tertiary, includes the Eocene, and 
is extensively developed in Georgia, Mississippi, and Alabama. 
The Middle Eocene is represented by the Claiborne beds, 
on the Alabama River, in the southwestern part of the State, 
and the Upper Eocene includes the Vicksburg group, met 
with in the southwest, constituting the limestone bluff at St. 
Stephens, on the Tombigbee. Sir Charles Lyell, who visited 
this State, says, four hundred species of marine shells, with 
numerous Echinoderms and teeth of fishes, were found in the 
Claiborne beds. Among the shells, the Cardita planostica is 
very abundant, which fact led this geologist to assign them to 
the Middle Eocene, making them contemporary with the 
Calcaire grossier of the Paris Basin. Above the Cardita beds 
rests the Orbitoides limestone superimposed by the White 
limestone, a very pure and compact rock, enclosing peculiar 
species of the Coral. It is in the White limestone that the 
Zeuglodon, a gigantic mammal of the^whale tribe, has been 
found, some specimens with a vertebral column being nearly 
seventy feet in length. 

Orbitoidal limestones are quite free from foreign con- 
stituents, being composed of more than ninety-five per cent, 
of carbonate of lime, and have been employed for building 
purposes. 

Louisiana. — The geology of Louisiana is mostly included 
in the recent periods, but a ridge of Cretaceous rocks, con- 
sisting of gray limestones, traverses the State from north- 
west to southeast. One variety of this formation, remark- 
ably pure, with a granular, banded structure, and free from 
fossils, has received the name of St. Landry marble. A 
crystalline limestone, in some portions consisting of pure 
white and yellow calcite, forms a hill near Winfield, but on 



LIMESTONES OF THE UNITED STATES. 8$ 

account of its brittle nature it cannot be used for marble. 
The Tertiary limestones are generally impure, but those 
of the Vicksburg group are the freest from foreign ele- 
ments. 

The varieties found in the county of Calcasieu, in the south- 
western part of the State, include a nodular variety resembling 
the Vicksburg, and a white, crystalline limestone. Gray and 
black limestones of the Tertiary are displayed at Sabine 
Bayou in the southwest, but no later marine Tertiary beds are 
recognized than the Upper Eocene. 

The Port Hudson group of Mississippi and Louisiana 
consists of the Orange Sand and the bluff loam, loess or 
alluvium, forming what is called the Bluff formation, and con- 
taining carbonate of lime, partly in concretions, covered by a 
thin deposit of yellow loam. The loess of the Mississippi 
encloses numerous fresh-water shells, and south of New 
Orleans it contains also marine fossils. 

Texas. — Eozoic rocks, as stated in the surveys of the State, 
are found in the western part along with Paleozoic strata, 
while the Llano Estacado Mountains, between four thousand 
and five thousand feet in height, consisting of granite, are 
capped by Potsdam limestone of the Cambrian period. 

The hills of this region display high, irregular walls of gray 
limestone of different shades, alternating with red, gray, and 
yellow sandstones, of different ages. Mount Llano is com- 
posed in part of fossiliferous limestones, while in that region 
and in San Saba and Burnet Counties, the Calciferous sand- 
rock is associated with a magnesian limestone called Burnet 
marble, constituting a formation several hundred feet in thick- 
ness, penetrated by veins of saltpetre. 

The limestones of this series differ in color and composition, 
and afford good material for building-stone, while some of the 
beds yield white, gray, and drab marbles suitable for monu- 
mental uses. The rocks in the western part of the State con- 
tain iron ore and the precious metals, and Paleozoic and Cre- 
taceous pebbles, enclosing characteristic fossils, are scattered 



86 LIMESTONES AND MARBLES. 

over a large tract south of Austin. Carboniferous limestones 
are met with in nearly all the counties, harder than those 
of the Cretaceous period, and generally of different shades of 
gray. 

Near Comanche Peak in the north, the Gryphseae, character- 
istic fossils of the Lias of the Jurassic period, are very abundant, 
forming a mass two or three feet thick, and are remarkably 
well preserved. This eminence is six hundred feet above the 
bed of the Brazos River, and presents two summits with trun- 
cated cones. The upper part of the northern hill consists of 
a Hippurite limestone of the Cretaceous period overlying a 
gray limestone, both resting upon a Gryphite bed of the Lias, 
and on the south side of the peak, the Gryphite formation is 
two hundred feet thick. The Cretaceous limestones are very 
widely disseminated and differ in texture, a part being hard and 
compact, and a part soft and friable with nodules, and nearly 
as pulverulent as chalk ; the color varies from dark-gray to 
yellowish-white. It is thought that the Cretaceous formation, 
which is very fossiliferous in Texas, enclosing species of 
corals and other remains, may be fifteen hundred feet thick. 

The Tertiary formation, including limestones, occurs near 
Austin and the Trinity River ; the Austin limestone has been 
used in the buildings of Austin, and for pubUc edifices in some 
of the counties of the State. The marbles of Burnet, Llanos, 
and San Saba Counties, including white, black, flesh-color, and 
variegated, are of fair quality, but not the best. 

Arkansas. — Like most other States in the Mississippi Basin, 
Arkansas yields limestones, including a great variety in 
color, age, and composition, and of greater or less economic 
value. 

The strata covering the northwestern part of the State, 
between the Black and Arkansas Rivers, have been classed by 
Owen, in three principal formations : the Millstone grit. Sub- 
carboniferous limestone, and Lower Silurian magnesian lime- 
stone, each with associated rocks ; the latter contain the lead 
and zinc ores of the State. Between the Sub-carboniferous 



Plate VIII. 




Victor: 




Warrick. N. Y. 



A>MSTiio«a k Co. LiTB. Boiroa. 



LIMESTONES OF THE UNITED STATES. 8/ 

and the magnesian, occur Encrinital and variegated limestones 
or marbles which may be Devonian. 

The Millstone grit, Carboniferous, is the most prevalent, 
covering the entire area of eight, and portions of six other 
counties. 

There are only few instances of the Sub-carboniferous lime- 
stone being found south of the Arkansas River, but the dis- 
tinction between them and those of the Carboniferous forma- 
tions, is not always clearly indicated in the rocks of Arkansas, 
except where the fossils are well preserved. The Oil Trough 
Ridge, consisting of limestones, includes the Archimedes, 
important as a guide to coal-mining, and the Producta lime- 
stone, seventy-five feet thick, of a fine black and capable of a 
good polish ; it is probable that this formation furnished the 
black marble found in Independence County. On the White 
River, the Carboniferous limestones are well developed, asso- 
ciated with varieties belonging to a different period. A cherty 
limestone, with white and yellow sands, forms the variegated 
cliffs on this stream, known as Calico Rock. The magnesian 
formation is displayed in the White River valley frequently in 
bluffs, presenting pink, white, gray, and red variegated lime- 
stones or marbles. In Marion County, the marble is similar 
to the Cooper marble of Missouri, which is thought to be of 
the age of the Onondaga, Devonian, and underlying these 
beds are three hundred feet of magnesian limestone contain- 
ing lead and zinc ores. This county is very rich in limestones 
capable of yielding marble, comprising a variety of light color, 
called Cotton rock. 

The lead-bearing rock in Carroll County is two hundred or 
two hundred and fifty feet thick, embracing about thirty feet 
of Encrinital marble ; 'and on the Little Red River in Van 
Buren County, limestone cliffs displaying the Archimedes, the 
Keokuk, and the Burlington limestones, all Sub-carboniferous, 
yield red, white, and pink marbles of a compact texture, cor- 
responding to those of Marion and Carroll Counties. 

The Cretaceous limestone extends from the eastern part of 



88 LIMESTONES AND MARBLES. 

the State through the centre, spreading out towards the south- 
west, passing at Ultima Thule into the Indian Territory. The 
formation in Hempstead County, including marls and Hme- 
stones,. enclosed most of the fossil bones found in the early 
settlement of the State, which were secured for the Museum 
at Berlin, Prussia. Some of the Cretaceous beds are entirely 
made up of shells cemented by lime, the most characteristic 
fossil being the Exogyra costata. 

The so-called Chalk Bluffs on the St. Francis River, con- 
sisting of potter's clay resembling white chalk in color, some- 
times variegated and suitable for ware, is considered a Quater- 
nary deposit, covering the Orange sand ; yellow ochre, lignite, 
and amber have all been found in the region. 

The block sent to the National Monument, obtained from 
the corner of Newton and Carroll Counties, in the northwest- 
ern part of the State, was taken from a bed of gray marble, 
mottled and clouded with liver-colored spots. 

Ka7tsas. — The oldest known formation in Kansas is the 
Carboniferous, which passes on its western border into the 
Permian, and in New Leavenworth it yields a variety of lime- 
stones from which the material was quarried for the govern- 
ment buildings. Nearly one-fourth of the Carboniferous strata 
is limestone, and a portion of it affords marbles of various 
colors except black and white, receiving a fair polish, and 
comparing favorably with those of New York and New Eng- 
land. The best marble is obtained from the Lawrence lime- 
stone, in Leavenworth and Atchison Counties, of different 
shades of buff, inclined to brown, of a beautiful mellow tint, 
and is quarried for buildings. Other varieties enclosing the 
Fusilina, Spirifer, Producta, Pinna, Crinoids and other fossils 
exist in the State. 

The Permian system, limited in extent in the United States, 
is believed to exist in Kansas, Nebraska, and the Indian Terri- 
tory, including limestones in Kansas suitable for construction. 
The Triassic rocks cross the Republican and Smoky valleys, 
but the fossils are so badly preserved that they cannot always 



LIMESTONES OF THE UNITED STATES. 89 

be distinguished from those of the Jurassic, a misfortune which 
occurs in other regions of this country. 

The Cretaceous formation has a large development, includ- 
ing an extensive bed of chalk, while the Loess or Bluff 
formation, seen on the Missouri, encloses the bones of the 
Mastodon. 



CHAPTER VI. 

LIMESTONES OF THE UNITED STATES — {Concluded). 

The Region of the Rocky Mountains and the Pacific Coast. — 
The geological systems of this section have not been so 
thoroughly investigated as those of the Atlantic Border or 
the Mississippi Basin, and, though much has been achieved 
in that direction within a few years, extensive tracts yet 
remain which may richly compensate the future scientific 
explorer. 

By the surveys of King, we are made acquainted with the 
geology of a vast territory crossed by the Union Pacific Rail- 
road, covering a belt one hundred miles from north to south, 
and fourteen degrees from east to west, reaching from the 
Great Basin to the Borders of California. The rocks included 
within this area are of an immense thickness, and of nearly 
every geological period from the oldest to the youngest. 

The Eozoic formations, comprising limestones, marbles, 
dolomites, porphyries, and serpentines, are found throughout 
the Rocky Mountains, the whole covered by volcanic rocks of 
great thickness. 

The Humboldt Range of the Rocky Mountain system, 
rising from near the centre of the Nevada plateau, twelve 
thousand feet, offers a bold and rugged mass of Eozoic and 
Paleozoic rocks. The former includes limestones which are 
in places changed to coarse marble. The top of Mount 
Bonpland of this range, says King, is covered with marble. 
The Eozoic limestone of the Humboldt Range is a compact 
dolomite from fifty to sixty feet in thickness. Southeast of 
90 



LIMESTONES OF THE UNITED STATES. QI 

• 

the Washoe Mountains the same formation comprises a white, 
crystalline dolomite, yielding a pure, fine-grained marble of 
granular texture, closely allied to the limestone of the Hum- 
boldt Range. It rests under a Carboniferous limestone, and 
at some places is intercalated with porphyry. In the West 
Humboldt Range, occurs a limestone formation characterized 
by the fossils of the St. Cassian beds and the Alpine Trias. 

The Paleozoic rocks are not well displayed in the Rocky 
Mountains, being covered with Mesozoic and Tertiary deposits, 
yet, it is stated, they form a continuous sheet over the whole 
area, and have a special development in the Uinta Range. 
The limestones of the whole series, thirteen thousand feet in 
thickness, are largely Carboniferous, more than one-half con- 
taining fossils characteristic of the formation. A blue-gray 
limestone of this period, conspicuous for the fossil Bellerophon, 
is found in the Uinta Mountains. The Transition or Paleo- 
zoic limestones include those of the Silurian type. The Ute- 
Pogonip limestone, charged with Primordial fossils, reaches, 
on the Ute Peak, in Nevada, a thickness of two thousand 
feet. It is light-colored, crystalline, with peculiar cloudings, 
and is considered analogous to the Quebec of the Lower 
Silurian. It is not metamorphic, though the remains are in 
the usual imperfect condition of those found in most western 
strata; it extends through the entire group of the Wahsatch 
Range, and includes, in the regions of the Cotton-wood, frag- 
mental masses of white marble. 

The Wahsatch Range of Utah and Nevada, from eleven 
thousand to twelve thousand feet in height, constitutes one of 
the most important and complicated of the Rocky Mountain 
chains. All the principal formations, reports King, from the 
Eozoic to the latest Tertiary, are here represented on a mag- 
nificent scale. This immense mass of rock is " twisted and 
folded like cords and sheets of paper." 

The Wahsatch affords a very large development of lime- 
stones reaching many thousand feet in thickness and belong- 
ing to different formations, from the Cambrian to the Tertiary. 



92 LIMESTONES AND MARBLES. 

The Jurassic series is of great thickness along the base of the 
range ; both this and the Triassic series are associated with 
gypsums. These limestones are very generally distributed 
over Utah and Nevada, and present some exceedingly grand 
views, displayed in canons from six thousand to seven thou- 
sand feet in depth. 

The Paleozoic limestones of this region afford great diversity 
of colors, — blue, gray, pink, buff, sombre and brilliant reds, 
and white, and are equally variable in texture and composition. 

Near Star City, a limestone encloses the remains of Saurians ; 
at Star Peak, the Triassic limestone rises several hundred feet 
in a nearly vertical direction ; and in the Augusta Mountains, 
it is covered, in some places, by a whitish, concretionary calc 
spar. 

The Eocene, Tertiary, affords a concretionary, and the 
Miocene, a saccharoidal limestone, enclosing fresh-water mol- 
lusks ; the Cheyenne limestone of Wyoming belongs to this 
period. 

The Cretaceous formation includes only a few limestones in 
the regions between the Wahsatch and the Rocky Mountains. 

The strata, from the bottom of the Cambrian to the top of 
the Tertiary, in the section explored by King, were about 
seventy-seven thousand feet thick, comprising nearly twenty 
thousand feet of limestone, and a small proportion of calcareous 
shales. 

The recent deposits include travertine. At Pyramid Lake, 
Nevada, occur the Tufa Domes, consisting of calcareous 
masses of light-brown or gray color, generally from fifty to 
sixty feet in height ; one of these domes, called the " Pyramid," 
attains a height of four hundred feet. These pyramidal accu- 
mulations, as well as the banks of the lake, are encrusted with 
gay-lussite, or as the explorer calls it, thonolite, consisting of 
carbonate of lime, carbonate of soda, water, and sometimes 
silica. This deposit of gay-lussite varies in depth from twenty 
to one hundred and fifty feet, and extends over hundreds of 
miles. 



LIMESTONES OF THE UNITED STATES. 93 

Colo7'ado. — The fossiliferous strata of Colorado, including 
Paleozoic, Secondary, and Tertiary deposits, have a maximum 
thickness of between twenty-four thousand and twenty-five 
thousand feet. 

The Silurian rocks, scattered in various parts in small 
masses, hold a subordinate rank ; they afford some limestones 
of the Trenton and Quebec epochs. In Southern Colorado, 
occurs an extensive development of massive blue limestone of 
the Devonian era. 

The distinct lines separating the periods of the Carbon- 
iferous era in the eastern part of North America, are not so 
well-defined in the western regions. The rocks of this 
formation, consisting largely of limestones more or less fossil- 
iferous, but with the fossils not always well-preserved, include 
compact and blue-gray limestones. In this State, as in some 
other regions of the West, the Triassic strata cannot always 
be distinguished from the Jurassic ; dolomites are interstrati- 
fied with the former, and limestones, embracing blue, red, 
pink, and wliite varieties, with the latter. The Cretaceous 
formation covers a large area in the South and Southwest, 
where the beds are nearly horizontal. Tertiary and Quater- 
nary deposits, though of far less extent than the Cretaceous, 
occupy no inconsiderable territory, while volcanic and erup- 
tive rocks form a characteristic feature in the geology of the 
State. Colorado, remarkable for its mineral wealth, affords 
also many interesting natural and archaeological features. Of 
the former are the canons, with their perpendicular sides, 
hundreds and thousands of feet in depth ; remarkable monu- 
ments of stone carved by the hand of Nature, rising, in some 
instances, from three to four hundred feet far above the 
forest trees, and walls of natural rock many hundred feet in 
height. 

The famous " monuments," or pillars of native rock, caused 
by denudation, are generally of sandstone, or with base and 
column of shale capped with sandstone; some of them re- 
semble the ruins of castles, with turrets and battlements. 



94 LIMESTONES AND MARBLES. 

The most remarkable objects found in this State and New 
Mexico are the cave and cHff dwellings, containing relics of a 
civilization superior to that of the present native races. 
Possessing a human interest, they excite the imagination more 
powerfully than any merely natural phenomenon can. 

The cliff-houses or fortresses were constructed generally of 
stones on the elevated projections of massive rocks, often 
steep, ^and apparently inaccessible. The most extensive ruins 
in Colorado are said to be found at Aztec Springs. The 
stone for the dwellings was taken from an outcrop of fossil- 
iferous limestone at the base of the Mesa Verde, a mile from 
the ruins. 

Territories west of the Mississippi. — The Territories west 
of the Mississippi yield an abundance of limestones and gyp- 
sums, differing in age, color, and constitution, as may be learned 
from the valuable and interesting reports of Hayden, Powell, 
Ives, Newbery, and others. In Idaho and Wyoming, are 
found nearly all the formations, from the lowest to the most 
recent period. Of Paleozoic strata, the Calciferous, Lower 
Silurian, the Niagara, Upper Silurian, Carboniferous, and 
Sub-carboniferous limestones are recognized. The Carbonifer- 
ous is of a blue color, massive and abundant ; the Sub-carbon- 
iferous is mostly magnesian. The Triassic strata, developed 
to a very limited extent, include a semi-crystalline limestone 
with Natica, and the Jurassic are represented by marls and 
limestones. The Tertiary strata afford drab, blue, and gray 
limestones; some of the Idaho and Wyoming varieties are 
susceptible of a polish, and can be used as marble. 

The lower Triassic beds contain great quantities of gypsum 
of light red, gray, or yellow color, resembling alabaster in 
texture, and sometimes they are fibrous, yielding satin spar ; 
many of these gypsums are suitable for ornaments. Beds of 
hematite, affording red paint, form a deposit under the Sub- 
carboniferous limestones and dolomites. 

The Eocene beds of Wyoming enclose gigantic vertebrates. 
The Cretaceous formation occupies extensive areas, and 
attains considerable thickness. 



LIMESTONES OF THE UNITED STATES. 95 

The gypsum deposits constitute the most conspicuous 
feature of the geology of the Indian Territory and New 
Mexico. They are placed between the Permian and Cre- 
taceous periods, and are thought to represent a part of the 
Permian, the Triassic, and the Jurassic of Europe. The most 
magnificent display of this rock, perhaps, occurs in New 
Mexico. It is fossiliferous, and presents a great diversity of 
character and of remains. The " Red Beds " of the gypseous 
series near Santa Fe, from one thousand five hundred to one 
thousand six hundred feet thick, are a very striking feature of 
the scenery. Limestones form a large proportion of the 
rocks of the Santa Fe Mountains, including several varieties 
enclosing fossils characteristic of the Carboniferous period. 
Limestone with Fusilinae (Rhizopods allied to the Num- 
mulite), and of wide distribution, but found only in Carbon- 
iferous strata, occur in this region. 

The bed of the Arkansas River is composed chiefly of 
white or cream-colored limestones. The Tertiary strata of the 
Arkansas Basin are thought to resemble the fresh-water 
deposits of the Paris Basin, and the MauA/aisses series of the 
Upper Missouri ; they contain masses of porous scoria. The 
Cretaceous deposits of New Mexico are on a grand scale ; 
they embrace light-blue, compact limestones, charged with the 
Inoceramus, the Gryphaea, and other characteristic fossils. 

Perhaps there is no grander scenery in this region than 
that along the banks of the Colorado River, which has its 
source at an elevation of ten thousand or twelve thousand feet 
above sea level. This stream once flowed, through five thou- 
sand miles of its course, over a table-land rising from five 
thousand to eight thousand feet ; in the lapse of ages, its rapid 
waters cut a channel several thousand feet in depth through 
the mass of rocks, forming immense walls of solid masonry on 
either side. 

The Grand Canon, one of the most magnificent gorges in 
the world, is six thousand eight hundred feet above sea level 
and five thousand five hundred above the Colorado. The 



96 LIMESTONES AND MARBLES. 

upper strata consist of Carboniferous limestone, the lower of 
granite, while between are beds of Silurian and Devonian 
limestones, sandstones, and shales. The limestones found in 
the valley of the Colorado present many varieties, some of 
which are developed into marble. The Carboniferous forms 
the surface rock, and the base upon which the San Francisco 
Mountain rests. Its numerous and well-preserved fossils 
render it a reliable guide in geological researches between the 
Colorado and Mississippi Rivers. 

Limestones of various colors, — variegated, crimson, yel- 
low, cream-colored, light-blue, lemon-yellow, and bluish-gray, 
— are developed in the Canon of Cascade River, and those 
of Marble Canon afford beautiful marbles of white, gray, pink, 
purple, and crimson colors. 

In the Yellowstone valley, in Montana, several varieties of 
limestones are developed, Silurian, Carboniferous/ and Juras. 
sic, including brov/n, red, yellow, and blue, compact and 
crystalline. 

California. — Though celebrated for its mineral resources^ 
California is no less remarkable for its lofty mountains, 
arranged in two principal groups, with several branches, — 
the Coast Range, following the shore of the Pacific, and the 
Sierra Nevada, forming the eastern barrier of the State. The 
southern branch of the Coast Range is the Mount Diablo 
Range, including several groups reaching to the Bay of San 
Francisco on the northwest, and made up of a series of 
mountains and valleys very formidable to explorers. The 
Contra Costa Hills, one of the group, rising from the Bay, 
are composed of Cretaceous and Tertiary strata, but little 
changed by metamorphism ; the Cretaceous rocks are full of 
organic remains. 

Mount Hamilton, one of the highest peaks of the Mount 
Diablo Range, consists principally of metamorphic sandstones, 
jasper, and serpentine, enclosed on all sides by strata un- 
changed. The jaspers, says Prof. J. D. Whitney, form the 
characteristic rock, and with their brilliant red and light-green 



LIMESTONES OF THE UNITED STATES. Q/ 

colors, present a beautiful effect. Argillaceous limestones are 
developed among the Cretaceous group on the north side, 
enclosing numerous fossils. 

The Cretaceous and Tertiary systems are found in the 
environs of San Francisco, but the fossils are less abundant 
than in the Mount Diablo R-ange, and it is claimed that the 
Tertiary rocks have an extensive development towards the 
north. 

A few miles from Santa Cruz, the sandstone assumes the 
picturesque form of the remains of buildings, bearing a resem- 
blance to columns, capitals, and other architectural members, 
the whole known as the Ruined City. 

Cinnabar ore is found in different formations, but the Creta- 
ceous, according to Whitney, yields the best mines ; it is 
developed in the Tertiary of the Coast Range. The mine of 
New Almaden ranks next to the Almaden of Spain, and the 
second in the world. 

Limestones are not the characteristic rocks of California, 
yet they exist in many localities. At the summit of Black 
Mountain, an elevation of three thousand feet, occurs an out- 
crop of a hard, compact limestone like that seen in many 
different localities ; it has been quarried for lime, and portions 
of it enclose fossil fishes. 

The Canon of St. Andreas displays a heavy mass of lime- 
stone several hundred feet in thickness, while a belt of lime- 
stone between the San Andreas and the San Mateo creeks, 
runs out to the ocean, forming headlands. The band of 
metamorphic limestone north of the Bay of San Francisco, 
appears to be a continuation of the San Andreas belt. 

Nearly the entire peninsula on which Benicia is built con- 
sists of low Cretaceous hills, on which rest Post-Tertiary de- 
posits. Beds of hydraulic limestone have been extensively 
quarried near Benicia, enclosing the Trigonia, one species of 
which, as stated by Prof. Whitney, is a very characteristic 
and widely-distributed fossil, of the Lower Cretaceous, found 
on the Pacific coast, from Central California to Vancouver's 



98 LIMESTONES AND MARBLES. 

Island. The Suisun marble occurs in the Cretaceous strata 
of the Pelevo Hills, south of the Suisun valley, for which it 
was named. This marble, or more properly alabaster, is a 
deposit from calcareous springs, of a deep brownish-yellow 
color, with a banded structure, and is an elegant ornamental 
stone, but unfortunately does not exist in large masses. It is 
much to be regretted that it should ever have been burned for 
quicklime. Travertine is deposited at a short distance from 
the quarry. 

In the San Luis Range, a zone of compact limestone was 
deposited, enclosing numerous fossil oysters, often of a gigantic 
size; and beds of crystalline limestone containing graphite 
form one of the constituents of the San Antonia Hills. Meta- 
morphic limestone is abundant in some parts of the Gavilan 
Range and forms the culminating points ; a similar variety is 
found near Fort Tejon. A deposit of calcareous tufa has been 
formed at Tuscan Springs, which is finely banded, and bears a 
close resemblance to the Suisun marble and the limestones on 
the west side of Monte Diablo. 

Prof. Whitney advances the opinion that the Coast Ranges 
were uplifted since the Cretaceous period, while the Sierra 
Nevada were elevated before that time. He says a belt of 
marine Cretaceous and Tertiary deposits runs along the base 
of the Sierras, while vast masses of fresh-water strata cover a 
considerable portion ; they include the gold-bearing deposits, 
consisting largely of metamorphic slates and sandstones. 

The grand Sierra Nevada group rivals the Alps in extent 
and height ; the culminating peak. Mount Whitney, the 
loftiest known in this country, reaches a height of fifteen 
thousand feet, while some of its canons are cut to the depth 
of two thousand or three thousand feet. It is said that from 
Mount Tyndall, one of the peaks, may be seen five mountains 
more than fourteen thousand, and fifty more than thirteen 
thousand feet high. Mount Shasta, an extinct volcano, com- 
posed of lava, crowned with red snow, is nearly four thousand 
feet higher than Mount Etna. 



LIMESTONES OF THE UNITED STATES. 99 

Though granite is the prevailing rock of the lofty Sierras 
on the western flanks, yet limestones are more or less exten- 
sively developed in their numerous ranges. On the northern 
foot-hills, beds of calcareous deposits, called Pence's Ranch 
limestone, extending several miles, are capable of being worked 
for gray marble. The fossils, consisting of Crinoids, the 
Producta, and the Spirifer, assign it to the Carboniferous 
period. A white crystalline limestone with graphite, and 
penetrated by dikes of basalt, occurs at Fremont's Pass, and 
another with dark bands, affording a beautiful stone, is found 
on the Kern River. 

In Tuolumne County, occur Tertiary and Post-Tertiary de- 
posits, remarkable for the remains of the Mastodon, the 
Elephant, and other Mammals. The Sierra limestone, well- 
developed in this county, is more or less crystalline, of various 
shades of gray passing into white, but is destitute of fossils, 
so far as is known ; on the north fork of the Merced River, it 
forms the picturesque grotto called Bower Cave. Trees more 
than one hundred and thirty feet in height are flourishing at 
the entrance, forty feet below the stream. The Tuolumne 
formation is distributed over considerable territory, and is 
intersected by numerous trap-dikes, and throughout its whole 
extent this limestone is considered a productive area for 
placer-mining. In some localities it is quarried for monu- 
mental and architectural purposes, but it does not well bear 
exposure to atmospheric influences. 

At Texas Flat, on the Stanislaus River, travertine has been 
deposited in cliffs similar to coral-reefs enclosing the remains 
of Mammals and fresh-water shells. 

The most striking feature of this county is Table Mountain, 
a mass of basalt which flowed for forty miles down the slope 
of the Sierra, in a stream from one hundred and forty to one 
hundred and fifty feet deep, and in portions of its course 
nearly two thousand in width. From its homogeneous char- 
acter. Prof. Whitney thinks it may have been poured out at 
one eruption. 



100 LIMESTONES AND MARBLES. 

The limestone at Murphy's Creek, where it affords a grand 
and picturesque view, is dark-gray, with large veins of quartz, 
yielding gold, copper, and cinnabar. The copper mines yield 
masses of beautiful malachite. This limestone, at Cave City, 
forms an extensive cavern, with long, winding passages, 
chambers, stalactites and other forms of calcareous deposits 
peculiar to. caves. The limestone of Tuolumne and Calaveras 
Counties extends into Amador as far as Volcano, where it is 
seen as a white, saccharoidal marble with blue clouding, 
resembling that of Sonora. Like the Tuolumne limestone it 
is cavernous, and encloses auriferous deposits. The Sierra 
limestone occurs in detached masses in Placer County, in 
Marble Valley of El Dorado County, and other localities. A 
zone of crystalline limestone with a few imperfect fossils, 
probably the stems of Crinoids, has been laid down in the 
Genesee valley. 

At Bass's Ranch, near the Upper Sacramento River, is a 
locality said to be the only one known in the State where any 
considerable number of fossils have been found in the Sierra 
Nevada limestone. The rock is a peculiar grayish-blue color, 
and is characterized by great masses of pyrites, some of them 
being several cubic feet in size, and enormous crystals of 
garnet. The limestone has a large development forming the 
hills called Gray Mountains or Marble Mountains, two thou- 
sand feet in height ; the fossils are those of the Carboniferous 
period. Whitney discovered fourteen species belonging to 
eleven different genera, six of the species being considered 
new. 

Marble and gypsum are found in Owen's Mountains, one of 
the Sierra Nevada group. 

Limestones constitute the principal rock in the Great Basin 
extending over the southeast part of California/forming entire 
groups of lofty and rugged mountains. This region is the 
only one yet explored, on or near the Pacific Coast, where 
limestones cover any considerable territory. 

The Temescal Range contains a heavy mass of porphyry, 



LIMESTONES OF THE UNITED STATES. lOI 

■passing from gray into dark-green and chocolate-brown, inter- 
spersed with crystals of white feldspar, making a very beautiful 
stone resembling the best Swedish porphyry. 

The Cretaceous system is developed in Oregon east of the 
Cascade Range ; marine Tertiary beds occur along the Pacific 
Coast. The Miocene Tertiary, near Astoria on the Columbia, 
and on the Willamette River, consists of shale and sandstone. 
It is said that no northern drift is found in Oregon, though 
very thick deposits of this character occur in some regions, 
both stratified and unstratified. 



CHAPTER VII. 

LIMESTONES OF BRITISH AMERICA AND THE WEST INDIA 

ISLANDS. 

I. British America. — The Eozoic rocks are distributed 
over the entire globe, but not in every country are they 
so fully represented as in Canada, Including the Laurentian 
and the Huronian they have, probably, an aggregate thickness 
of fifty thousand feet. With few exceptions they are meta- 
morphic, and include granitic and hornblendic rocks, lime- 
stones, dolomites, porphyries, serpentines, and the beautiful 
opalescent labradorite. 

The Laurentian series in Canada is supposed to cover an 
area of two hundred thousand square miles, but from the 
absence of fossils the chronological order of the series remains 
undetermined. The rocks yield rare and valuable metals and 
minerals, one of the rarest being the sulphuret of molybdenum, 
useful as a chemical reagent, and as a blue dye for silk and 
cotton fabrics, while among the more common products are 
magnetic iron, plumbago, mica, and other minerals. 

The composition of the Laurentian limestones, it is said, 
makes them of considerable scientific importance, aJ'ording 
more essential aid in deciding the structure of the series th^n 
do those rocks whose different strata more closely resemble 
one another, though there is, to a greater or less extent, 
a similarity in the lithological character of these limestones. 

These rocks are easily disintegrated, constituting a very 
productive soil, and possess the qualities for making excellent 
lime. They are generally highly crystalline, •coarse-grained, 

102 



Plate IX. 




English Serpentu4e. 




Griotte. 



Abmotronq & Co. LiTH. Boston. 



LIMESTONES OF BRITISH AMERICA. IO3 

sometimes saccharoidal, but not fine enough to be called com- 
pact ; in color they are commonly white, but sometimes gray, 
salmon, red, blue, yellow, dark-green, dove-color, or purple, 
with a banded appearance, produced by the distinct arrange- 
ment of the light and dark colors. - The marble is not suitable 
for statuary, but has been used for architectural purposes, as 
in the Parliament buildings at Ottawa. A white marble, 
marked with spots and patches of green serpentine, has been 
obtained near the Rouge River. 

Although the Laurentian rocks have been considered Azoic, 
yet Mr. McMullen discovered what were thought to be fossil 
remains in a limestone at Grand Calumet. When first dis- 
covered, the fossil was believed to be a coral resembling the 
Stromatopora rugosa, but if has since been classed with the 
Rhizopods, and called the Eozoon Canadense. The same 
fossils have been detected in dark-green serpentine with 
crystalline dolomite. 

The porphyries of the Laurentian series are of a superior 
quality for ornamental uses ; they present harmonious contrasts 
of color, comprising a variety of dark-gray or black ground, 
with deep flesh-red crystals, capable of receiving a brilliant 
polish, and a hard, compact, green porphyry, with red, brown, 
and black spots, the green often passing into olive or chocolate 
brown. 

Labradorite often constitutes mountain ranges, and great 
boulders of this rock, with iridescent portions, are frequently 
met with. The opalescent varieties, used for ornament, occur 
as cleavable masses enclosed in a fine-grained paste of the 
same mineral character, and when thickly disseminated, render 
the stone useful for decoration. The best specimens are found 
near Abercrombie, where the rock is lavender-blue, fine- 
grained, with opalescent spots, producing a play of gold-green, 
bronze-green, and ultramarine-blue. 

Serpentines are found in Eozoic and Paleozoic strata, and 
though they have been considered by some geologists intru- 
sive rocks, it is claimed that the Laurentian and the Paleozoic 



104 LIMESTONES AND MARBLES. 

serpentines of Canada, are sedimentary and stratified. The 
Laurentian are paler in color and more tender than those of 
the Green Mountains, therefore Ifess valuable for decoration. 
A variety occurs of oi-1-green or sulphur-yellow masses in a 
white, crystalline base, presenting a banded appearance, and 
another of pale-green with clouds of rich brown, green, and 
red. 

In the Quebec group. Lower Silurian, serpentines constitute 
the mass of rock ; they are generally dark-colored and better 
for ornament than the Laurentian. Much of the formation is 
distinctly stratified, and it is frequently clouded with red and 
brown. The serpentine of Eastern Canada is mixed with 
dolomite, like the European, and resembles the serpentine of 
Roxbury and Cavendish, Vermont, which is called Verde 
antique. 

The great Silurian formations of New York are traced, by. 
•an identity of fossils, through Canada and other parts of 
British America. Of the Lower Silurian, the Calciferous, 
Chazy, Bird's Eye, Black River, and Trenton are represented. 
The Calciferous formation yields a few beds of magnesian 
limestone, the Chazy some, while the Bird's Eye, Black River, 
and Trenton limestones are fully developed, but the distinc- 
tions between these groups in Canada, are less definite than in 
New York. 

In the vicinity of Montreal, the Chazy limestone abounds 
in the Rhynchonella plena ; in the valley of the Bonne-Chere 
River, this formation, combined with the Black River and the 
Trenton, displays nearly fifty beds differing in character and 
thickness. Some varieties are afforded by the Utica and Cin- 
cinnati groups. 

The River St. Lawrence flows through a region of fossili- 
ferous strata of the Silurian age, consisting, in great part, of 
limestones of different tinted grays and various kinds of 
structures, and all more or less charged with organic remains. 

The Chazy and Trenton limestones, replete with shells, 
afford brown, light, and dark-red, and dove-colored marbles, 



LIMESTONES OF BRITISH AMERICA. IO5 

while the Trenton alone develops a black and a fine gray 
mottled with red and yellow. The gray limestones in the 
vicinity of Montreal are sometimes used as marble, but they » 
are of dull colors and do not polish well, two radical faults in 
marble. A fine-grained, compact limestone, suitable for litho- 
graphic purposes, is afforded .by the Bird's Eye and the Black 
River formations. The Trenton limestone forms a broad belt 
of considerable extent, ranging from the Gulf of St. Lawrence 
to Western Canada ; it forms a part of the rocks at the Falls 
of Montmorency, and is developed near the cities of Ottawa 
and Montreal. It is quarried at the latter place, and has been 
used for some of the fine buildings and other structures of 
the city, especially the excellent quays and canal docks ; it is 
gray, with a granular structure owing to the crystalline tex- 
ture of the organic remains. The Trenton is employed for 
building-stone at Quebec, where the tint is more inclining to 
yellow than that of Montreal, and bears better exposure to the 
weather. 

Several new genera of Silurian fossils have been discovered 
in the Canadian rocks, including Crinoids, Cystids, Astrias, 
Brachiopods, Gasteropods, Cephalopods, and Crustaceans. 
Most of these recent discoveries were made in the Trenton 
and the Chazy limestones of Ottawa and Montreal, in the 
Black River series, and the limestones of Anticosti and the 
Mingan Islands. . 

The extensive Quebec group, Lower Silurian, older than th6 
Chazy, is especially Canadian, since it was first recognized by 
the geologists of Canada, and because all the series are well 
represented there. The group has a thickness of about seven 
thousand feet, and yields a variety of limestones of different 
colors, from white to black, with red and white dolomites 
containing geodes. Some of the Quebec limestones afford 
fine-grained, white, black, greenish, and dove-colored mar- 
bles. 

At Point Levis, near Quebec, dolomites and limestones 
occur, the latter frequently forming masses many feet in thick- 



I06 LIMESTONES AND MARBLES. 

ness, without any visible marks of stratification or of organic 
remains. They are compact, conchoidal, sub-translucent, with 
a banded structure, which leads to the conclusion that they 
are chemical deposits from water, or travertines ; they are 
pure carbonate of lime and of different shades of pearl-gray, 
sometimes pale green. Interstratified with these travertines, 
are found beds of fine, granular limestone with Orthoceratites, 
Trilobites, and other fossils of a marine character, affording an 
instance of alternate subsidences and elevations. Besides 
these travertines and limestones, there occurs at Point Ldvis a 
conglomerate of a peculiar character. 

The Anticosti series of rocks extends through the Upper 
Silurian and Devonian into the Carboniferous, embracing in 
the group a large development of limestones. They were 
deposited in a quiet sea, in uninterrupted succession, and 
enclose fossil fauna hitherto unknown in North America, 
hence they are highly important and interesting. The upper 
layers consist of white limestones, crowded with the remains 
of large Crinoids, but enclosing few other fossils. The south 
side of the island is generally low, the most elevated points 
consisting of cliffs on Jupiter River, from eighty to one 
hundred and fifty feet in height, but the whole of the north 
side is a succession of ridge-like elevations from two hundred 
to five hundred feet, while Macastry Mount attains the height 
of one thousand four hundred feet. The masses of limestone 
contributing to form these elevations are more or less fossi- 
liferous and varied, grays forming the predominant color. A 
coarse, granular limestone, of a yellowish white, is displayed 
at West Point, on the island, which forms a good building- 
stone, and was used for the construction of the lighthouse at 
this place. The limestones of Anticosti are regularly strati- 
fied, forming nearly horizontal beds two thousand three 
hundred feet thick. Those of the Mingan Islands, a chain of 
very small islands north of Anticosti, are similar, and include 
the Bird's Eye, Black River, and Trenton groups ; the Anticosti 
series is also found in western Canada. 



LIMESTONES OF BRITISH AMERICA. 10/ 

The Gaspe limestones, named for Cape Gaspe, of Eastern 
Canada, a variable formation, are classed with the Upper 
Silurian or Devonian ; they are widely disseminated, and consist 
of beds aggregating two thousand feet. The yellow, red, and 
green jaspers, frequently of brilliant colors, called Gaspe 
pebbles, are found in these limestones. 

The Guelph formation, Upper Silurian, wanting in New 
York, is largely magnesian, containing light-drab, compact 
dolomites and a buff-colored coralline limiestone. Those of the 
Lower Helderberg, Upper Silurian, including the Tentaculite, 
Pentamerus, Spirifer, Encrinal, and Hydraulic varieties, are all 
represented. Many of the Pentamerus beds attain considerable 
thickness. The limestones of the Niagara group are found in 
British America as well as in the United States, while the 
Corniferous and Hamilton of the Devonian, including Encrinal 
limestones, cover a large extent of territory, the former six 
thousand or seven thousand square miles. Excellent building- 
stone is afforded by the Niagara, the Guelph, and the Cornif- 
erous groups. The limestones thought to be Devonian, yield 
a great variety of marbles, comprising a cream-colored, with 
ochre-yellow veins, a dark-gray and yellow breccia with yellow 
veins, resembling the Porto Venere of Italy, not only in 
appearance but in composition. 

When the limestones of the solid strata of the Thames, in 
Ontario, are smoothly polished, they present the appearance 
of red and yellow marble crossed with lines of white, forming 
a natural mosaic pavement. In some of the coral limestones 
of Canada, the fossils project in masses several feet in 
diameter, and from one to five feet from the rock, covering the 
surface with large, irregular protuberances. 

A limestone enclosing the Spirifer, a characteristic fossil of 
the Hamilton group, is developed on the shores of Lake 
Huron. Cape Breton Island affords gray and white marbles, 
and variegated marble of the Carboniferous period occurs north 
and west of Plaister Cove. Serpentine, and a pure white 



I08 LIMESTONES AND MARBLES. 

marble with a variety of purple and green, of the Upper Silu- 
rian, are found at Fire Islands. 

The Hudson Bay territory is chiefly composed of Upper 
Silurian limestones, thought to be littoral deposits, and Silurian 
limestones extend along the western side of the granitic 
chain from Lake Winnipeg to the mouth of the Mackenzie, 
and from the edges of the continent to the Arctic Sea. The 
Lake Winnipeg limestone contains gigantic Orthoceras and 
Receptaculites. 

11. The West India Islands. — Cuba. — Madrepore hme- 
stone, enclosing marine shells, constitutes the principal rock 
near Havana, where it is quarried and has been employed in 
the construction of the city. A singular breccia prevails in 
the northeastern part of the island, composed of white marble, 
or a kind of stalagmitic limestone, with num.erous cavities 
filled by calcareous deposits of a brick-red, the shells of several 
species of land snails, marine univalves, and the bones of 
quadrupeds. 

This peculiar conglomerate, deposited in caves remote from 
the shore, has been accounted for in the following ingenious 
manner : Quadrupeds and land snails resorted to these 
caverns, where they left their bones and shells ; the red por- 
tions of the rock were formed by the coprolites of bats, which 
also frequent such places ; and the well-known habits of the 
hermit-crab account for the presence of marine fossils. The 
crabs resort to the sea-shore, appropriate the shells of other 
animals and bear them away to these mountain retreats. All 
these materials, collected by different agencies, were cemented 
by carbonate of lime deposited by the water percolating the 
crevices, in the manner of stalactites, forming solid beds of 
marble elevated several feet above the sea. 

Jamaica. — The coast ranges of Jamaica rise on all sides, 
either directly from the shore or at some distance inland. 
The eastern portion of the island is mountainous, the western, 
hilly, affording the sources of more than one hundred rivers 



LIMESTONES OF THE WEST INDIA ISLANDS. IO9 

with numerous tributaries. The sub-structure appears to con- 
sist everywhere of igneous rocks, superimposed by limestone, 
which form the principal surface strata. 

The White limestone and the Coast limestone constitute a 
Tertiary formation, reaching a depth of more than two 
thousand feet, and covering five-eighths of the island. It en- 
closes land shells, and is compact, brecciated, or of a cellular 
structure, due to the solvent power of water. 

The White limestone has a large development, forming the 
northern coast range, and the capes and promontories extend- 
ing beyond the influence of freshwater. In places it is 
elevated several thousand feet, and where washed by the sea, 
it exhibits a coral structure. By some geologists this lime- 
stone is considered the equivalent of the Calcaire grossier 
of the Eocene, while others assign it to the Miocene. It 
encloses Rhizopods, Lamellibranchs and Gasteropods, similar 
to tliose now living in the adjacent waters, and appears to 
have been deposited " slowly and steadily in the bed of a 
tranquil sea." 

The beds at Port. Royal Parish are said to resemble the 
Jurassic limestones in mineral characteristics. 

The Coast limestone has less extent, is never seen at great 
elevation, is rarely found inland, and is of recent origin. The 
White and the Coast limestones produce two different kinds 
of soil, one white, resembling chalky marl, the other red ; the 
latter, from its superior fertility, is appropriated to the cultiva- 
tion of coffee. The brecciated variety of this formation is 
well-displayed in a place called the Devil's Hole, where it is 
one thousand feet in thickness, resting upon five hundred or 
six hundred feet of laminated limestone ; it is also found on the 
summits of hills two thousand or three thousand feet above 
sea-level. The compact variety of the series is characterized 
by large fissures and caves. 

Below the White limestone occurs the Yellow limestone for- 
mation of Miocene age, five hundred feet thick, and comprising 



no LIMESTONES AND MARBLES. 

numerous interstratified thin beds essentially marine. This 
limestone, during an epoch of subsidences, sank to great 
depths, in places, more than one thousand feet, affording room 
for the great coral formations, which, in turn, contributed the 
debris for the enormous White limestone strata deposited 
during an almost inconceivably long period of time. The 
Yellow limestone is variable, full of fossils, and portions of it 
yield marbles. This formation is superimposed by a compact 
variety with Orbitoides. 

The Cretaceous system includes a Hippurite limestone, and 
other species which have lost their fossiliferous character by 
metamorphism. The lower strata include a compact, massive 
limestone with large Radiolites, occasionally seven feet in 
length, and is of variable color, sometimes light, sometimes 
dark-blue or black. The Cretaceous group is of the same age 
as the Hippurite of the south of Europe, and differs from the 
Cretaceous of the other West India Islands. The beds are 
separated by very fine lines of decomposed green or purple 
shale, producing colored bands in the rock. The more 
calcareous part is not finely granular, like statuary marble, 
but yields a compact, crystalline limestone, capable of a good 
polish and of being used as marble. The group is often 
crossed by copper veins. 

Jamaica is well supplied with building stone from the finest 
marble to the coarsest sandstone. Marbles are abundant 
along the southern base of the central chain of the eastern 
mountains, and a great variety occurs in other localities, 
including black, white, green striped with gray, and white 
with brown and red. A chalk of sufficient firmness for build- 
ing was used in the church at St. Antonio, the best specimen 
of architecture, it is said, in Jamaica. Besides marbles this 
island yields serpentines, porphyries, granites, travertines, 
and various colored ochres, all serviceable for domestic use or 
as articles of commerce. 

Coral limestones cover six-sevenths of the Island of bar- 



LIMESTONES OF THE WEST INDIA ISLANDS. Ill 

badoes, including a siliceous variety. A part are hard, com- 
pact, with conchoidal fracture, and are quarried for building- 
stone, while those of a porous texture are used for infil- 
tration. 

A conglomerate formed of basalt, peridot, titanic iron, and 
spar, cemented by yellow limestone, is found in the Sandwich 
Islands, and is used by the natives for disks employed in 
games. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

LIMESTONES OF MEXICO AND SOUTH AMERICA. 

I. Mexico. — The great chain of the Andes, passing through 
the Isthmus of Panama and traversing Central America and 
Mexico, presents in these countries many of the features that 
characterize it in South America. In both regions the range 
comprises volcanic peaks, elevated table-lands, and rock 
systems similar in character. Some of the limestone forma- 
tions found in one country occur also in the other; thus 
a variety, called by Humboldt the "Alpine," which he con- 
siders similar to the Zechstein, Permian, but which is regarded 
Jurassic by some other European geologists, extends along 
the Cordilleras of Mexico, constituting the native rocks of 
many of the rich silver mines of this region. 

The great table-land of Mexico, rising from seven thousand 
to eight thousand feet, is largely porphyritic ; some of the 
strata enclose garnets and the beautiful fire-opal, so much ad- 
mired as a gem. A coarse, granular limestone of the so-called 
Alpine formation is, in some localities, associated with the 
porphyry. It occurs in immense masses near the salt lake 
Tuspa, and is sometimes found with compact, specular gypsum 
of a bluish-gray, with calcite veins, and frequently passes into 
a white, compact rock, resembling the limestones of Pappen- 
heim of the Jurassic period. It is seen in different places, 
often forming caverns. 

A limestone formation with the upper layers whitish and 
the lower grayish, with large masses of calc spar, occurs near 
Mazatlan and Chilpansingo. 

H2 



LIMESTONES OF MEXICO AND SOUTH AMERICA. II3 

The vast table-land between Alto de las Caxones and Mus- 
cala, is composed of limestones, gypsums, and sandstones. A 
bluish-gray limestone, found throughout a considerable extent 
of territory, enclosing few fossils, generally compact, with 
occasional white, granular beds, underlies a formation re- 
sembling the "Alpine"; thi-s limestone is remarkable for its 
caverns. 

We are indebted to the reports of Mr. A. Remond, edited 
by Prof. J. D. Whitney, for the geological investigation of 
Northern Mexico, including the States of Durango, Chihuahua, 
Sinaloa, and Sonora. He says that the oldest sedimentary 
rocks belong to the Carboniferous series, represented in 
Sonora by parallel ridges of massive limestone following the 
general direction of the Sierra Madre. It is bluish in color, 
fine-grained, enclosing flint nodules, and with associated schists 
reaches, probably, five thousand feet in thickness. At Her- 
mosillo, the rock is converted into white, saccharoidal marble, 
and at La Cruz and some other localities it encloses Crinoidsj 
the fossils of this limestone are generally well-preserved. 
The formation contains argentiferous veins, and above it rests 
the Triassic : it is doubtful whether the metamorphic slates 
and limestones, which include the richest gold placers of 
Sonora, belong to this or to the Jurassic period, as the fossils 
are too imperfect to leave no doubt on the subject. 

The beds considered Jurassic, though their age cannot be 
determined beyond doubt, contain layers of variously colored 
limestones entirely made up of fossils. An argillaceous lime- 
stone, loaded with shells, occurs at a hill called " Cerro de las 
Conchas," or "Shell Mountain," and constitutes a depository 
of Cretaceous fossils of great interest. 

The most beautiful and interesting formation of Mexico is 
the so-called Onyx marble, a calcareous alabaster, the result 
of chemical agencies, w^hich equals, if it does not surpass, in 
beauty, the antique Onyx marble of Algeria. Its translucency, 
its soft, delicate lines of stratification, its deep orange and 
light green spots or clouds, and its exquisite polish, render it 
one of the most attractive of ornamental marbles. 



114 LIMESTONES AND MARBLES. 

The Isthmus of Tehuantepec, in Southern Mexico, presents 
but little variety in geological formations, and but few 
mineral productions, compared to the rich and varied re. 
sources of other parts of this country. In his Surveys of the 
Isthmus, R. W. Shufeldt, U. S. N., says that there are two 
limestone belts running nearly parallel with the Atlantic and 
the Pacific, whose synclinal valley between the ranges forms 
the table-land or mesas of Tarifa and Chivala. The northern 
or Masahua Range appears to be the continuation of the Cor- 
dilleras, and forms the dividing ridge between the two oceans ; 
the southern is the Majada Range. The nucleus of these 
ridges is blue limestone, which forms everywbere the summits 
and highest peaks of the belts. 

Coarse, yellowish chalk deposits denote the presence of the 
Cretaceous system, and the Tertiary is represented by a soft 
and a compact blue limestone. Calcareous tufas and breccias, 
dolomites, marbles, porphyries, and granites form a part of the 
rocks of this region. 

11. South America. — The most characteristic geological 
feature of South America is the great chain of the Andes, ex- 
tending the entire length of the American Continent, and re- 
markable for its lofty peaks, the highest exceeding twenty- 
five thousand feet, its precipitous western slope of an ascent 
from one hundred to one hundred and fifty feet to a mile, and 
its elevated passes, varying from more than twelve thousand 
to more than sixteen thousand feet above sea-level. The enor- 
mous mass constituting this extensive range presents interest- 
ing alternations in the composition of the strata. In portions 
of the chain, granite forms the fundamcxital rock ; in others 
clay slates, of which entire mountains are composed ; then 
porphyries, which, perhaps, predominate; trachytes, sand- 
stones, limestones, gypsums, and serpentines have also con- 
tributed to the framework of this mountain system, traversing 
two continents through their entire length of seven thousand 
or eight thousand miles. 

It is the opinion of Hartt that the fundamental rock of the 



LIMESTONES OF MEXICO AND SOUTH AMERICA. II 5 

whole Brazilian plateau is gneiss, which forms the mountain 
chains along the Atlantic Coast. Earlier geologists believed 
that no fossiliferous strata older than the Cretaceous were 
found in this region, but recent investigations have made it 
nearly certain that Eozoic and Paleozoic rocks are represented ; 
and that on the Amazons, fossil series embrace Carboniferous, 
Devonian, and Upper Silurian strata. In regard to the age of 
the Brazilian rocks, Agassiz says there is no sequence, as in 
North America, of Eozoic and Paleozoic strata, though fossils 
have been detected here and there peculiar to the latter ; that 
the oldest trustworthy data are of the Cretaceous period, and 
its strata formed the basin of the Amazons, with extensive de- 
posits of recent age ; but it was his belief that there were no 
remains of Tertiary beds. Throughout the extent of the 
basin, this naturalist traced three distinct formations ; a strati- 
fied sandstone formed the lowest, superimposed by laminated 
clays, presenting a variety of colors, pink, orange, crimson, 
yellow, gray, blue, black, and white, affording pigments to the 
native Indians ; then a ferruginous sandstone with quartz 
pebbles ; and above this a drift formation of reddish, sandy 
clay. This series is very extensive, reaching from the Atlantic 
to the foot of the Andes, and constitutes a peculiar feature. 

Somewhat conflicting with the above statements are the 
views of Hartt, who writes that the metamorphic rocks of the 
Amazonian region include crystalline limestone, probably 
Laurentian, and Carboniferous strata very rich in organic re- 
mains, including numerous species of Corals, Echinoderms, 
Bryozoans, Brachiopods, Lamellibranchs, Gasteropods, and 
Trilobites. On the authority of Dana, the Jurassic system is 
found in many regions of the Andes, from their northern 
limit to Tierra del Fuego. 

In South Brazil limestones are very rare. A bed of white 
marble occurs at Barra, which is of a coarsely crystalline tex- 
ture and bluish tint, and encloses green serpentine ; in some 
places it contains what resembles the Eozoon. 

The table-land of Brazil is crossed by a limestone chain, ex- 



Il6 LIMESTONES AND MARBLES. 

cavated by numerous caverns, in which have been discovered 
human remains and the bones of extinct animals. Lund 
claims to have found these remains in six of the six hundre*d 
caverns of this formation, but in only one were the human 
remains mingled with those of extinct animal species. 

The Tertiary system is largely represented in Brazil, and 
includes a calcareous tufa, or limestone called "Tosca," and 
the extensive formation called Pampas, composed of red clayey 
earth, with calcareous concretions and numerous fossils, some 
of extinct and others of recent species. It is said by Darwin 
that the whole area of the South American Pampas is one 
wide sepulchre of gigantic quadrupeds. More than one 
hundred species, now extinct, have been discovered in this 
formation. 

W. O. Crosby, who has visited this region, says that Guiana 
and Venezuela are mainly composed of crystalline rocks. The 
Tertiary basin of Venezuela, connected with the vast Tertiary 
plain of the Amazons, includes limestones, combined with 
serpentine, supposed to enclose the Eozoon, and are probably 
Laurentian. There occur other crystalline limestones of 
great thickness, varying in color from white to nearly black. 
A compact limestone, resembling the Trenton, is very fos- 
siliferous, enclosing bivalves resembling the Nucula, and 
univalves like the Murchisonia. 

Among the limestones of the extensive plains of Venezuela, 
beds of gypsum are developed, and in the eastern part the sur- 
face is overspread with pebbles of ribbon jasper, called 
" Egyptian pebbles," while in the northern part Cretaceous 
rocks occur. 

Limestones are developed in the Andes of Ecuador, associ- 
ated with gypsum and rock-salt, and on the table-land of 
Quito appears a white Umestone resembling Carrara marble, 
alternated with a banded, translucent marble, employed by the 
inhabitants for statuary, and the windows of chapels and con- 
vents. This formation, displayed on the banks of the Llano 
de Tarqui, resembles in its banded structure, alabaster, and 



LIMESTONES OF MEXICO AND SOUTH AMERICA. 11/ 

was probably a travertine deposit, analogous to the Mexican 
onyx. 

Bluish-gray granular limestones with particles of quartz are 
found in New Grenada. 

A limestone of the Andes is frequently mentioned by 
Humboldt under the name of "Alpine" limestone, on account 
of the resemblance he noted between its fossils and those of 
this formation in Europe, but the name is inappropriate for a 
formation on the Western Continent, and is not very gener- 
ally adopted here. The limestone thus designated is grayish, 
bluish, and occasionally reddish, often passing from compact 
to fine granular, intersected by small veins of calcite, which 
gives the stone great brilliancy ; sometimes it is bituminous, 
and the source of mineral pitch and hydrogen vapors. 

In Peru, it includes immense beds of flint, and veins of red 
and gray silver, and is found at an elevation of more than 
thirteen thousand feet, enclosing Gryphites, Terebratulae, 
and Ammonites, fossils of the Jurassic and Cretaceous 
periods, while in Venezuela and Mexico this formation is 
highly crystalline. 

Porphyry of a columnar structure forms a very characteristic 
rock in this country, constituting mountains of considerable 
height. One species exhibits numerous large crystals of 
hornblende, forming a stone similar to the Porfido verde of the 
ancients. Among other species, are a green porphyry, a 
variety enclosing black mica, and another of hard, fine texture, 
and black color, resembling the stone of many of the Egyptian 
statues, formely supposed to be basalt. 

The mounds or " shell-heaps," the work of the early inhabit- 
ants, form an interesting feature in the geological history of 
Peru, inasmuch as they prove the upheaval of the coast. 
These mounds, some being sixty metres high, were undoubtedly 
made near the sea, but they now occupy a place from eighteen 
to twenty miles inland. They enclose shells of the Venus, a 
living species, and two species of the Corbula, not now found 
on the coast. 



Il8 LIMESTONES AND MARBLES. 

One of the most characteristic geological features of Chili 
are the terrace-plains, consisting of shingle or rolled pebbles 
and gravel. 

The rocks sliding down from the precipitous sides of the 
Andes, and forming immense masses in the valleys, include 
porphyries of great thickness, red sandstones, conglomerates, 
limestones, and clay slates, passing into vast beds of gypsum, 
while the base and sides of the hills are covered with bright 
red and purple porphyry. The marine shells on the summits 
of mountains, at an elevation as high as fourteen hundred feet, 
lying scattered about or embedded in the soil, show that the 
coast has been raised to that extent above its original level. 

The calcareous rocks of Chili include limestones, marbles, 
and gypsums. The limestones are variable in color and tex- 
ture, and yield marbles, including white statuary, black, green, 
yellow, gray, and parti-colored ; as gray with white, yellow 
and blue veins ; and green with black and brown. The latter 
has been quarried at San Fernando, and is held in high esteem. 
It is said there are two mountains in this country which 
consist principally of marble zones of various colors, and that 
marble is very abundant in the lower Andes. In the plains 
near Coquimbo, there are beds of a white marble, of the 
nature of a lumachelle, more than three miles in extent, with 
an average thickness of two feet. Pinkerton says that the 
Chilian marbles are generally of good quality, and suscep- 
tible of a fine polish. It is stated that Muscovy glass, a kind 
of mica, is found in this country in great perfection, both as 
regards color and the size of the crystals ; it is used for glaz- 
ing and in the manufacture of artificial flowers. 

The Tertiary formation east of the Andes, including the 
concretionary limestone called Tosca, and covered by the 
Pampas, is very extensive, reaching to Tierra del Fuego. 
Patagonia, one of the least attractive regions of the continent, 
and of which little is known save the fabulous tales told by 
Magellan and his crew, of the gigantic stature of the natives, 
has a geological interest above that of some more favored 



Plate X. 



'XB^'^ 



'^-v*' 



"i 1^ 




■ 7 / V 






Cam PAN Vert. 












'>5 




Verde Antico. 



ABMSTBONG & Co. LiTH. BuSIOM, 



LIMESTONES OF MEXICO AND SOUTH AMERICA. II 9 

countries. One great deposit, writes Darwin, extending for 
five hundred miles along the coast, consists of Tertiary shells 
of extinct species, the most characteristic being a gigantic 
oyster ; this formation is covered by a peculiar soft, white stone, 
enclosing gypsum, which resembles chalk, and is composed 
largely of marine infusoria. ■ At Port St. Julian, in the south- 
east, the formation is eight hundred feet thick. Above it 
rests a mass of gravel remarkable for its extent, covering an 
area of six hundred or seven hundred miles from north to south, 
and perhaps two hundred miles in width ; its greatest depth is 
believed to be two hundred and its average fifty feet. The 
pebbles of this shingle, consisting of older rocks, were rolled 
and transported subsequently to the formation of the white 
strata, and both after the Tertiary, proving the inconceivable 
duration of geological eras. The plains of Patagonia rise one 
above another like terraces, the lowest having an elevation of 
ninety feet, the highest nine hundred and fifty ; the shells 
covering the plains still retain, to a considerable degree, their 
natural colors. In the south of Patagonia, occurs a great 
basaltic platform. 

The limestones of Patagonia, referred to the Tertiary, are of 
several varieties, including a marly limestone with dendrites 
found near the Negro River. 

Limestones are found in the valley of the Uruguay, though 
granite is the rock of most frequent occurrence. Serpentines 
similar to those of Saxony are developed near Caraccas and 
Venezuela. 

The Island of Trinidad, forming one of the British West 
Indian islands, is, by its geographical position and its geo- 
logical structure, intimately connected with the mainland, 
from which it is separated by a channel only a few miles in 
width, that is gradually filling up with alluvial or other 
deposits. The coast line of Venezuela, thus extended, may 
eventually take in the entire area of this large island. The 
rocks constituting the mountains of Trinidad are identical 
with those of the coast from the Orinoco to Caraccas, and 



120 LIMESTONES AND MARBLES. 

consist of Paleozoic, Tertiary, and recent deposits ; the 
Cretaceous formation is said to occur in portions of the llanos 
of Venezuela. 

Crystalline limestones in large masses, including many 
varieties of color, with numerous fossils whose distinctive 
characteristics are partially obliterated, are found in Trinidad. 
They have been referred both to the Devonian and Carbon- 
iferous periods, but W. O. Crosby considers them Taconic of 
the Eozoic era; the newer beds, however, resemble the Trenton 
limestone of the Lower Silurian. 



CHAPTER IX. 

THE LIMESTONES OF GREAT BRITAIN. 

In his Manual of Geology, Mr. J. B. Jukes makes the follow- 
ing statement : " The structure of the British Islands is 
better known than that of any other part of the globe of 
equal size, and they contain a more complete series of rocks 
in a small space than are found in any other district." 

For an investigation, classification, and naming of the rocks 
of the Silurian system in Wales and the west of England, the 
geologist is indebted to Sir R. I. Murchison, though his group- 
ing has been somewhat modified by subsequent writers. 

The representative limestones of the Lower Silurian best 
developed in Wales are, the Bala, twenty-five feet in thick- 
ness, including the Hirnant, ten feet more, and the Caradoc. 
In Merionethshire, in the northwest part of Wales, are the 
town and lake of Bala, where the group named for this 
locality is best displayed ; a few miles from Bala, the Hirnant 
valley gives its name to a subordinate limestone belonging to 
the same group. On account of their impurities, the Bala 
limestones are no longer quarried. Towards Shropshire, or 
Salop, the Bala limestones pass into a sandstone enclosing 
calcareous beds called the Caradoc, from Caer or Camp Car- 
adoc, a hill bearing the name of the king of the ancient 
Silures whom his Roman conquerors designated Caractacus. 

Carnarvonshire in the northwest is pervaded by associations 
of historical interest, and abounds in^ scenes of natural beauty 
and grandeur. Near the ancient town of Bangor, stands 
Penrhyn Castle, built of gray Mona or Anglesey marble 

121 



122 LIMESTONES AND MARBLES. 

obtained from the Island of Anglesey, erected on the site of 
the old palace of Mochwynog, Prince of Wales, in 720 ; the 
Penrhyn slate quarries are not far from here. Beaumaris 
Castle, with its Moorish towers and beautiful canopied niches, 
was erected on Anglesey by Edward I. ; and not far from the 
ruins are the quarries from which the Anglesey marble, used 
in constructing many of these strongholds, was mined.* 

The Castle of Carnarvon, built by this conquering prince 
and celebrated as the birthplace of Edward 11. , is an immense 
pile, with walls ten feet thick, defended by thirteen towers. 
The Romans, during their occupation of the country of the 
Silur^, built the town of Segontium, the remains of which 
are still to be seen near the present Carnarvon. 

In. this interesting region rises the highest mountain south 
of the border, the Snowdon, a name made classic by the great 
Scottish bard. It is composed mostly of slate, remarkable 
for hardness and fineness of texture, and a calcareous ash or 
volcanic tufa, the representative of the Bala limestones resting 
upon igneous rocks which sometimes penetrate the strata, 
causing " dislocations and ruinous heaps of disjointed beds." 
Including all the contemporaneous rocks, the Bala beds are 
from ten thousand to twelve thousand feet thick, but of this 
immense mass only a small portion is limestone. The fauna 
of this group is extensive, enclosing, says Sir C. Lyell, five 
hundred and sixty-five species, three hundred and fifty-two of 
them being peculiar to the series ; Brachiopods predominate, 
while Trilobites attain their maximum. 

It is believed that the group, including Orthoceratite and 
Maclurea limestones, is developed in Scotland from Dumfries 
to the Lammermuir Hills. The Wrae limestone of Peebles- 
shire is a Lower Silurian formation. 

The Bala and Caradoc groups, with some bands of lime- 
stone, occur in the counties of Wicklow, Wexford, and Water- 

* Besides the gray Anglesey, this island develops a black, and a green and 
white serpentine marble of the Cambrian period which may be analogous 
to the Irish Connemara. 



THE LIMESTONES OF GREAT BRITAIN. 1 23 

ford, Ireland, while in the " Chair of Kildare," hills west of 
Dublin, the calcareous rocks abound in the characteristic fos- 
sils of this formation. 

The mountains known as the " Bins of Connemara" are 
Lower Silurian, the green and white crystalline rock, called 
Connemara marble, or Serpentine, is of the same age. 

The typical limestones of the Upper Silurian are the Wool- 
hope or Barr, the Wenlock or Dudley, and the Aymestry or 
Ludlow. 

The Woolhope or Barr forms the western declivity of the 
Malvern Hills, famous in literature for the vision of Piers 
Ploughman. On one side lies the valley of the Severn, on 
the other, flows the '* sylvan Wye " between its picturesque 
banks. The scenery of this region is delightfully varied by 
commanding summits, wooded banks, shaded glens, and bold 
escarpments of red and purple rocks. 

The towns of Wenlock and Dudley gave the name -to a 
fossiliferous, concretionary formation quarried for its limestone, 
which, says Lyell, forms a continuous ridge extending twenty 
miles, nearly parallel with a similar escarpment of the Aymes- 
try limestone, a mile distant. The rock often encloses large 
masses of carbonate of lime called *' Ball stones " sometimes 
eighty feet in diameter, quarried for smelting iron. The lime- 
stone is crowded with corals and other fossils. North of 
Dudley, it rises in domes with the particular names of " Castle 
Hill," "Wren's Nest," and others, affording a superior kind 
of limestone quarried by subterranean galleries. 

The Ludlow or Aymestry group was called for towns of the 
same name, the former in Shropshire or Salop, the latter in 
Herefordshire. 

The Ludlow encloses numerous fossils and a great variety 
of minerals ; the central portion consists of a dark-gray lime- 
stone, on which Ludlow Castle, a border Welsh fortress is 
built of the same rock. The poet Milton spent some time at 
or near this castle, and a deep depression of the Ludlow prom- 
ontory, smce called "Comus Woods," is the scene of his 



124 LIMESTONES AND MARBLES. 

"Masque of Comus." The Aymestry limestone liable to sub- 
sidences is developed in Hereford, Salop, and Stafford Counties, 
and is quite extensively quarried. 

, The Pentamerus is the characteristic fossil, although the 
Orthoceratite is abundant, eleven species having been discov- 
ered in the strata. 

It is stated by Murchison that the Silurian series in Great 
Britain reaches the enormous depth of fifty-six thousand feet, 
or more than ten miles. 

In the southwest part of England, are the counties of Corn- 
wall and Devon ; the latter gave the name to an extensive 
series of rocks, the Devonian, which occur in nearly all regions 
of the globe. In Great Britain, the formation is best studied 
in these counties, but it also occurs in South Wales, Hereford- 
shire, in Scotland along the side of the Grampians across the 
southern part, and in Ireland. The representative rock in 
most of the English Devonian is the Old Red Sandstone ; 
limestones are not a feature of the series except in Cornwall 
and Devonshire, where the great Devon or Plymouth limestone 
becomes the type. The limestones of Ilfracomb and Comb 
Martin of Devonshire, the Cornstone of Wales, and varieties 
with Clymenia and Posidonomya, have been classed with the 
Devonian or Plymouth. It is a formation characterized by an 
abundance and variety of fossils. Corals and Trilobites being 
very conspicuous. The Devon in England and the Eifel of 
Germany are the great representative limestones of the period 
in Europe. 

The largest development of British marbles occurred during 
the Devonian and Carboniferous periods. 

The great typical formation of the Sub-carboniferous period 
in Great Britain is the Mountain limestone, abundant in 
England and Ireland, and developed, to a certain extent, in 
Scotland and Wales. A grand display of pure, compact lime- 
stone of this variety, of one thousand or one thousand five 
hundred feet, is seen in the north of England, and in Derby- 
shire it is cut into picturesque valleys and bold cliffs, afford- 



THE LIMESTONES OF GREAT BRITAIN. 1 25 

ing some grand scenery. One of these cliffs called " High 
Thor," on the Derwent River, rises four hundred feet in a 
mass of shell limestone in which are numerous cavities filled 
with spar, while in a contiguous cliff, occur masses of fluor 
spar called "Blue John." Opposite High Thor, is displayed 
a cream-colored limestone called "Dun-stone." Mantell 
mentions calcareous, petrifying springs as occurring at Mat- 
lock Dale, on the Derwent, where travertine is deposited ; and 
high up in the INIasson Hill Range, he says, a thick bed of tufa, 
of a nature suitable for buildings, covers a large area. 

In Nottingham, on the Trent, the Mountain limestone is called 
the Great Scaur or Scar ; the word in this sense meaning a 
precipitous bank or rock. It is more than one thousand one 
hundred feet thick, extending from the valley of Eden across 
the country to the mouth of the Tyne ; in Scotland it has less 
thickness, and is seen in several subordinate bands, including 
a variety identical with the Scaur of Durham. 

In no European country, says Jukes, is this formation so 
well developed as in Ireland, where it has a maximum thick- 
ness of three thousand feet ; in the south may be seen, 
probably, one of the largest displays of limestone in the world. 
In this island it often occupies low, undulating ground, but 
along Galway Bay, it rises in ridges of hills from one hundred 
to one thousand six hundred or one thousand seven hundred 
feet high, of solid limestone, for the distance of twenty miles. 
The hills are very picturesque, especially when the most 
exquisite tints are brought out by the magical effect of the 
setting sun. 

The centre of Ireland is a great plain of Carboniferous 
limestone encircled by groups of lofty hills of older rocks, 
where the strata are covered by comminuted sand and pebbles 
called " Limestone sand," often containing large blocks, used 
for the manufacture of lime. 

The "Ekers" are long banks or ridges with steep sides, 
formed of limestone, sand, and gravel, often extending for 
miles. 



126 LIMESTONES AND MARBLES. 

Throughout its whole extent, the Mountain limestone of 
Great Britain is penetrated, more or less, by igneous rocks, 
and is everywhere charged with marine fossils, largely made 
up of Corals, Crinoids, and Mollusks. Of Corals the Lithos- 
trotion is most abundant, while the Bryozoa are best repre- 
sented by the Fenestella ; the Crinoids by the Pentremites ; 
the Brachiopods by the Producta, Spirifer, and Terebratula ; 
and the Gasteropods by the Bellerophon. The Productae 
are so numerous that the formation is sometimes styled the 
Producta limestone. Sea-lilies once grew here in great abun- 
dance, often forming beds of solid limestone one thousand feet 
thick. 

The Encrinital limestones of Derbyshire, of this formation, 
yield many beautiful varieties of marbles used for the manu- 
facture of ornamental tables, sideboards, chimney-pieces, and 
other decorative articles. 

The general type of the Mountain or Carboniferous lime- 
stone is bluish-gray with pure white organic remains, though 
some varieties are pale-red and others nearly black, with fossils 
of a deep ochre-yellow. 

The Carboniferous group in the Lowlands of Scotland 
include fresh-water limestones. According to Hibbert, the 
formation of " Birdie House," near Edinburgh, is of this char- 
acter. It is very fossiliferous, enclosing innumerable micro- 
scopic Crustaceans of which the Cypris is the most abundant, 
and the Unio, a bivalve, fresh-water shell, with ferns remarkably 
well-preserved. This writer says the quarries had been 
worked for half a century before their fossil treasures were 
made known to science. 

The great Carboniferous formation in the British Islands, 
remarks one of their geologists, affords, probably, the best 
example in the world of a continuous series. He says the 
Lower and Upper Silurian and the Carboniferous may be 
taken as three tolerably complete and consecutive groups of 
rocks forming isolated volumes of the world's history, while the 
Devonian and Permian records are but a few torn and half- 



THE LIMESTONES OF GREAT BRITAIN. 12/ 

obliterated leaves from lost volumes that may, perhaps, never 
be recovered. 

The Magnesian limestone is the representative of the Per- 
mian period in England, as the Zechstein is that of Germany. 
The former is greatly diversified- in structure, texture, and 
composition, but less in color. One variety encloses concre- 
tions from the size of grapes to that of cannon-balls, while 
another is oolitic ; sometimes it is compact, at other times it 
is cellular. The proportion of magnesia varies, giving to the 
rock, in some instances, the character of a true dolomite, 
while in others it falls below the standard. Occasionally it is 
very fossiliferous, but the evidences of life at this period are 
meagre and unsatisfactory. The tint is generally yellowish, 
though sometimes red or brown. 

In England, the Magnesian limestone is found along the 
borders of the coal regions, which are most largely developed 
in the north, where, in Durham County, it reaches six hundred 
or seven hundred feet in thickness, while in the central and 
southern counties it is wanting. The Permian and a part of 
the Triassic beds were formerly called the '' New Red Sand- 
stone." 

The Triassic period is well represented on the Continent, 
in the Muschelkalk of Germany, the Hallstatt and St. Cassian 
beds of Austria, and the Calcaire coquillier of France ; in the 
British Isles it is recognized by the New Red Sandstone, with 
few fossils, and the nearest approach to a limestone formation 
in the English Trias is the dolomitic Conglomerate of Bristol, 
found in the region of the Severn. It consists of the frag- 
ments and pebbles of older rocks cemented by a red or yellow 
dolomite. Many of its fossils are deceptive, having been 
borrowed from the Mountain limestone upon which the Con- 
glomerate, in part, rests. Bone beds are found near the top 
of the series, both in England and Germany. The Rhaetic 
beds, including cream-colored limestones without fossils, cor- 
responding to the Koessen beds of Austria, are called, in Eng- 
land, the Penarth beds, from Penarth in the south part of 



128 LIMESTONES AND MARBLES. 

Wales, where they reach a thickness of fifty feet ; the princi- 
pal member of the group has been styled the Avicula contorta 
bed, from tha great abundance of that fossil. 

The Jurassic or Oolitic period is represented in England 
by the oolitic limestones : on the Continent, the rocks consti- 
tute the chain of mountains and hills on the northwest frontier 
of Switzerland known as the Jura, and hence are called 
Jurassic. If limestones were barely represented in the British 
Trias their deficiency is made up in the Jurassic or Oolitic 
system. The series representing this great formation are the 
Portland or Upper Oolite ; the Oxford or Middle Oolite, and 
the Bath or Lower Oolite. 

In the ascending order, first comes the Lower Oolite, which 
includes, i. Inferior Oolite; 2. Stonesfield Slate; 3. Great 
Oolite ; 4. Cornbrash and Forest Marble. 

The lower member, or Inferior Oolite, includes the Rag- 
stone, a brown, sandy, incoherent limestone ; Freestone, a fine- 
grained, pale, oolitic or shelly limestone ; Pea Grit, a pisolitic 
limestone ; and the Collyweston beds, erroneously called 
slates. Some of the characteristic fossils of the Inferior 
Oolite are Terebratula, Rhynchonella Ostrea, Pleurotomaria, 
Trochus, and Ammonite. 

Above the Inferior Oolite is the Stonesfield Slate, which is 
a shelly limestone, not a slate, celebrated for its fossils of 
terrestrial reptiles. 

The next of the series is the Great Oolite, one member of 
which, called the Bath Oolite, is an excellent building-stone. 
The Great Oolite consists of blue limestones, white oolitic 
freestone, and flaggy limestones, sometimes called slates. It 
is abundant in Crinoids and Corals, the most prominent of 
the latter being a species of Eunomia, often found in large 
masses. 

The upper division of the Lower Oolite consists of Corn- 
brash and Forest Marble. The Cornbrash, easily broken and 
useful for corn land, whence the name, is a rubbly, nodular, 
cream-colored limestone, each concretion being covered with 



THE LIMESTONES OF GREAT BRITAIN. 1 29 

a deep-red coating. The Poorest Marble, named from Wych- 
wood Forest, is an argillaceous limestone replete with marine 
fossils. 

The representative member of the Middle Oolite is the 
Coral Rag, formed of continuous beds of corals, sometimes 
fifteen feet thick, and of a variable character, found in the 
south and north of England. It corresponds in age to the 
Nerinaean limestone of the Jura, and the Lithographic slate 
or limestone of Solenhofen. The Corals embedded in this 
rock geiierally retain their natural position, and resemble the 
reef-building polyps of the Pacific. The Kelloway Rock is a 
sandy limestone developed in Wiltshire and in the north of 
Wales. 

The Portland beds of the Upper Oolite consist of sandstone 
below and oolitic limestone above. The celebrated Portland 
stone, well-known as a building material, is a light-colored, 
oolitic limestone enclosing about fifty species of Mollusks ; 
some of the Ammonites are of large size, and the Cerithium 
Portlandicum or Portland Screw, a very common fossil in this 
rock, nearly always occurs as a cast. 

Portland, a part of the time an island and a part a peninsula, 
is a bold headland projecting for four and one-half miles into 
the English Channel, terminating in the Portland Bill, a rocky 
promontory on which are two lighthouses and the remains of 
a castle of the time of Henry VIII. In this semi-island is 
quarried the Portland Stone, which was not extensively used 
until the middle of the seventeenth century. 

That employed in St. Paul's Cathedral and many of the 
churches of Queen Anne's reign is said to be more durable 
than the stone quarried from more recent mines. It is capa- 
ble of being cut with a smooth and equal surface, which in- 
creases its value for building purposes. 

East of Portland, is an island ten miles long and seven 
broad, formed by the River Frome and the English Channel, 
called Purbeck Isle, with a southern projection named St. 
Alban's Head; here is developed the Purbeck formation 



I30 



LIMESTONES AND MARBLES. 



classed by Lyell with the Upper OoHte, divided into Upper, 
Middle, and Lower beds, each characterized by peculiar spe- 
cies of fossils. The Upper strata, about fifty feet in thick- 
ness, are exclusively of fresh-water origin, and made up, to a 
great extent, of shells, the Paludina and Cypris being very 
abundant ; the Purbeck marble belongs to this series. The 
Middle Purbeck contains beds of limestone partly of fresh- 
water and partly of brackish water origin, enclosing fossil 
mammalia, while the Lower Purbeck strata include fresh- 
water limestones. Between the layers of the Purbeck beds 
occur what are called " Dirt Beds," with petrified trees which, 
in some instances, constitute fossilized forests. Some of the 
trees are erect, with trunks broken off three or four feet from 
the root ; others are prostrate. 

The Purbeck formation has a limited extent, but is im- 
portant for the three distinct classes of fossils it contains. 
In the Upper Purbeck are the fresh-water genera Physa, 
Limnaea, Paludina Planorbis, Cyclas, Unio, and the Cypris, 
which is characteristic of the formation ; in the Middle, besides 
Mammals, are the marine fossils Pecten, Modiola, Avicula, 
Ostrea, and the Hemicidaris, and below the Middle Purbeck 
occur fresh-water shells. 

Purbeck marble was quite generally employed in the archi- 
tecture of the Middle Ages, and formed a part of the decora- 
tions of the churches of that period. A fine example is seen 
in the column of the Chapter House of Westminster Abbey, 
the columns of the nave of the Abbey, and in the Church of 
the Knights Templars. The marble is a brown color without 
lustre, and owes its attraction to the shells of which it is 
composed. 

The Jurassic or Oolitic period yields a rich harvest of organic 
remains, some of the Lias beds having been compared to a 
pavement made entirely of the Belemnite ; other beds display 
a solid mass of Ammonites, which have been found in Ireland 
from the size of a pea to a foot in diameter. Probably as 
many as six hundred species of Ammonites have been named 



THE LIMESTONES OF GREAT BRITAIN. I3I 

by paleontologists, and a majority of these occur in the Juras- 
sic series. 

The Wealden Beds. — Lyell classes the VVealden with the 
Cretaceous system ; Jukes follows the same method, but ques- 
tions the correctness of this arrangement ; while Dana and 
Phillips assign it to the Jurassic. It is a fresh-water formation, 
consisting of clay, sand, and some beds of limestone called 
" Sussex Marble," and, though the strata rest between marine 
beds, they contain only fresh-water and land organic remains. 
The system received the name of Wealden from weald or 
wold, Anglo-Saxon for forest, because the group is developed 
in the Weald of Kent, Surrey, and Sussex, where formerly ex- 
isted, it is supposed, a river since obliterated. The most com- 
mon fossils are the Paludina, Cyrena, Cyclas, Unio, Melania, 
and Melanopsis fresh-water genera, though some of the beds 
enclose shells of brackish and sea-water origin. The gigantic 
Iguanodon, an extinct terrestrial reptile, is characteristic of the 
formation. 

The Wealden extends along the northern shore of the 
English Channel and is found again in the southern part of 
France, and in Hanover and Westphalia. It is estimated that 
its maximum thickness is two thousand feet. 

The Sussex or Petworth marble, belonging to this formation, 
consists largely of the Paludina, a fresh-water snail, with the 
shells frequently decomposed, leaving nothing but their casts ; 
in the compact masses, the fossils have been changed into 
spar, affording a beautiful marble of various shades of gray, 
blue, and ochre, mixed with pure white ; some of the Sussex 
beds enclose the fossil Cypris, no larger than a pin-head. The 
Sussex marble has been called, from the abundance of its 
shells, "Lumachelle a Paludines." The Sussex and the Pur 
beck marbles, both belonging to fresh-water formations, appear 
to be closely allied in origin and in the character of their 
fossils, and were formerly arranged in the same group. The 
Paludinae of the Purbeck are much smaller than those of 
the Sussex, which encloses myriads of Cyprides \ both 



132 LIMESTONES AND MARBLES. 

formations are characterized by the Cyclas, a fresh-water 
bivalve. 

The white Chalk is the most characteristic rock of the 
English Cretaceous system ; though it differs from the Car- 
boniferous limestone in texture and hardness, the face of the 
country in the chalk regions is similar to that produced by 
the Mountain limestone. The hills of both formations have 
broad, undulating, grassy downs, smooth in the Chalk, but 
cut into steps in the Carboniferous, while the valleys of both 
are equally marked by scaurs, torrs, and pinnacles. The Chalk 
is literally filled with organic remains, Echinoderms, Crinoids, 
and Marsupites predominating. 

In the neighborhood of Neufchatel, there arc beds including 
limestones called Neocomian, the Latinized name of this 
Swiss town, considered the marine equivalents of the Wealden. 
The name has been applied by English geologists to the 
Lower Green Sand, occupying the lower beds, while the Chalk 
formation, twelve hundred feet thick, occupies the Upper 
Cretaceous. 

On the Continent, the Maestricht of the Netherlands, the 
Faxoe of Denmark, the Hils conglomerate and Mittelquader 
of Germany, the Hippurite of the Pyrenees, the Scaglia of 
Italy, and the Pisolitique of France, are representative Cre- 
taceous formations. 

The Tertiary beds form isolated districts in the hollows of 
the Chalk formation, including the Hampton and the London 
Basins, on the north side of the Channel, and the Paris Basin 
on the south. 

The Tertiary strata of England are classed as Lower, 
Middle, and Upper Eocene — recent dawn ; Lower and 
Upper Miocene — less recent, or with fewer number of recent 
species ; Pliocene — more recent, or with a larger number of 
recent species ; and Pleistocene — most recent, or the largest 
number. 

Limestones form but a small and insignificant part of the 
English Tertiary, while in other countries they become, in 



THE LIMESTONES OF GREAT BRITAIN. 1 33 

' some instances, representative, as in the great Nummulitic 
formation and the Calcaire grossier. 

The Lower Headon series, M. Eocene, developed at White- 
cliff Bay, near Headon Hill, and Alum Bay in the Isle of 
Wight, includes a limestone from sixty to eighty feet thick. 
The Bembridge series, U. Eocene, displayed in the Isle of 
Wight, with a thickness of one hundred and twenty feet, 
yields a compact limestone charged with fossils similar to 
those of the Headon group. 

The Pliocene is represented by the Red Crag and the 
White or Coralline Crag of Suffolk. The latter is a soft, 
marly, white sand with occasional bands of limestone, com- 
posed principally of broken shells and the remains of 
Bryozoa, sometimes constituting a rock suitable for building ; 
some of the numerous species of fossils are peculiar, and 
belong to extinct genera. Both the White and the Red Crag 
are used in agriculture for fertilizers. The Pleistocene is rep- 
resented by glacial deposits, erratic blocks, boulders, clay, 
till, etc. 

The Liassic and Oolitic limestones of Great Britain are 
frequently too soft to receive a good polish, but the Oolitic 
group affords immense quantities of building-stones. They 
were extensively used in mediaeval architecture, as may 
be seen by examination of the buildings erected during 
the reigns of Henry VIL, Henry VIIL, and Elizabeth. The 
Bath stone of the Great Oolite was employed in the restora- 
tion of Henry VII. 's Chapel in Westminster Abbey. It has a 
warm tint and is well-adapted to architectural ornament, but 
suffers from exposure to the moist atmosphere of England. 

The Kentish Rag, a hard, siliceous limestone, and the 
Magnesian or dolomitic limestone, are largely used for 
architectural purposes ; the latter is employed in the manufac- 
ture of carbonate of magnesia and Epsom salt. 

There is no white statuary marble, in any considerable 
quantity, in Great Britain, but colored marbles are very 
abundant and beautiful, the largest development occurring in 



134 LIMESTONES AND MARBLES. 

the Devonian and Carboniferous eras. The Mountain or 
Carboniferous limestone yields an abundance of valuable 
marbles in Derbyshire and Staffordshire, in the north central 
region, and the Devonian formation in the south. The 
marbles of both regions are well-adapted for ornamental 
work, and are made into various articles for household 
decoration. 

The Derbyshire and Staffordshire marbles enclose Encri- 
nites, and display a great variety of brown colors, while those 
of Devonshire are of more brilliant hues. One of the rarest 
and most beautiful of the former is the Rosewood, having the 
ground of a dark, reddish-brown, marked with light-brown 
layers, imitating so perfectly the fibres of the wood that the 
marble might easily be mistaken for genuine rosewood. 

In the south of England, the Devonian limestones afford 
many varieties of beautiful variegated marbles, enclosing 
corals, and known as Madrepore marbles. The group exhibits 
colors as brilliant as those of the Giallo antico of the ancients ; 
the green shades are feebly represented in the English 
marbles, there being only one variety of that color in the fine 
collection seen in the Geological Museum, London. 

The monolithic shafts of the forty columns of the National 
Provincial Bank of England, were cut, says Hull, from a red. 
dish, Devonian Madrepore marble, one single block affording 
eighteen columns ; the bases are of black marble from Ireland, 
and the capitals of cream-colored stone. 

The Ipplepen and Babbicomb limestones of Devon yield 
very fine varieties of variegated Coral marbles, while those of 
Plymouth, though less brilliant in color, include some valuable 
kinds. 

The picturesque rocks that line the Avon, on which the 
city of Bristol is situated, present, in their bold outhnes, 
several varieties of fossiliferous marbles of the Carboniferous 
era, called Bristol marbles. A Forest marble near Bradford 
was formerly used for small ornaments, and a beautiful 
brown marble, with light-yellow shells of the Ammonite, is 
found in Somersetshire. 



Plate XI. 







■'■■-^•^^ 


^^ • j^l*' **-^' ^ - 


x..r<^«» >^ <^: 


j1- 



Rosso Levanting. 




Belgian. 



ARMBTROMG & Co. LiTB. BOSTOK. 



THE LIMESTONES OF GREAT BRITAIN. 1 35 

The Isle of Man, with its groups of picturesque mountains, 
yields limestones affording various kinds of marbles. Some 
of the Manx marbles are a black, Carboniferous variety ; a dark 
and light breccia; and a marble used in architecture, which 
has been quarried for more than two hundred years. 

The Welsh marbles include a brown, yellow, and purple 
breccia of Glamorgan, and the Mumbles mxarble of Swansea, 
with dark ground covered with light-yellow spots and veins. 
What is called St. Vincent's Rock of Bristol, is a gray 
and reddish-brown marble resembling alabaster. 

The peculiar marble from Tiree, a small island belonging to 
the Hebrides, displays a base of light-pink or pinkish-yellow, 
with small masses of dark-green or red augite, which gives the 
stone a porphyritic appearance. The Strathdon marble 
of Aberdeen presents different greens, and the Glen Tilt of 
Perthshire combines dark colors and white. 

The Scotch marbles are neither numerous nor remarkable, 
but in Ireland, marbles of the Carboniferous period are very 
abundant, embracing pure white statuary, black, and colored 
varieties. The " Irish Green " or the Connemara serpentine 
marble of Galway, is very conspicuous for its colors and the 
forms of its clouds, and affords several varieties. 

It is said that the fine color of the Black Kilkenny is liable 
to injury by exposure to the air. This unrivalled marble 
is mottled with white corals in the form of calcareous spar, 
resembling sometimes nebulae of stars, and sometimes lace- 
work, constructed of the cells of polypi. Near the Kilkenny, 
appears a beautiful red and white marble. 

The white marble of Connemara cannot be found in largfe 
blocks without impurities, while the white Donegal is too 
coarse for fine work. 

The best varieties of the "Irish Siena," found near the 
Shannon Harbor, is veined and mottled with distinct colors, 
and takes a fine polish. 

From Limerick are obtained pink and white, and brown 
and gray varieties, while those of Clonomy are generally 



136 LIMESTONES AND MARBLES. 

of different browns, marked sometimes with peculiar veins 
or spots. 

Cork yields black and white marbles, and the islands in the 
Kenmare River furnish marbles of various colors, some of the 
combinations being black and white.; purple, white, and 
yellow ; and a variety resembling " bloodstone." 

The Galway black marble takes a fine polish, and was em- 
ployed, it is said, in the construction of Hamilton Palace, 
Scotland. 

The Serpentines of Great Britain are very numerous, varied, 
and beautiful, but perhaps none surpass the Lizard Point 
serpentines in richness and elegance. There is a fine display 
at a cave near the Lizard, where they have been polished by 
the waves, their dark, variegated colors forming a bold con- 
trast to the white sands of the beach. The Potsoy serpen- 
tines of Scotland are generally light and dark-green, red, 
and white, and yield an excellent stone for decoration. 

The Alabasters of Great Britain, not generally beautiful, are 
light-yellow or yellowish-brown, with the colors diffused 
in irregular, cloud-like markings. 

See Appendix C. 

MARBLES OF THE BRITISH MUSEUM. 

The antique marbles of the British Museum afford an 
interesting study in ancient art and history, and illustrate 
the use of marble and alabaster in sculpture and archi- 
tecture, and for decorative purposes, by the early nations of 
the world. 

The Elgin Marbles, as is generally known, are portions of 
the sculptures from the Temple of Minerva, called the Par- 
thenon, built 438 B. C, at Athens. They were brought 
to England by Lord Elgin and purchased by the government 
in 1 8 16. They include the fifteen metopes from the south 
side of the Temple, representing the battle of the Athenians 
and the Centaurs, sculptured in the marble taken from Mount 
Pentelicus, north of Athens. 



THE LIMESTONES OF GREAT BRITAIN. 1 3/ 

The Phigalian Marbles, purchased for the Museum in 1814, 
were brought from the ruins of the Temple of Apollo 
Epicurius, built at about the same date as the Parthenon, at 
Phigalia, in Arcadia. They are covered with a series of 
sculptures representing the battles between the Greeks and 
the Amazons, and the Centaurs and the Lapithae. It is not 
known whence the marble was obtained, but probably from 
some of the mines near the city, as marbles were very 
abundant in Greece. A copy of the Diadumenos, " the 
Crowned," of Polycletus, is in Pentelic marble. 

The marbles from Halicarnassus, in Caria, Asia Minor, 
belonging to the celebrated Tomb of Mausolus, contain 
reliefs on the frieze, the subject, a favorite one for the Greek 
chisel, being the battle of the Greeks and the Amazons. The 
colossal statues, one of which is supposed to be that of 
Mausolus, are of Parian marble, while the columns and 
other portions are of a different kind. The marble from the 
Temple of Diana of Ephesus, another of the World's 
Wonders, encloses large bluish-white crystals, and has the 
appearance of being clouded. It was undoubtedly from some 
near locality, since Asia Minor, as well as Greece, produces a 
great abundance of marble. Among the numerous relics of 
ancient art are a head from the Temple of Nemesis, at 
Rhamnus, in Attica, and a torso of ^sculapius, from his 
Temple at Epidaurus. The battle of the Centaurs was 
sculptured on the metope of this building, and the great 
Pantheaic Festival on the inner frieze. An Ionic capital 
from the Temple of Minerva Polias, at Priene, Caria, in Asia 
Minor, was cut from a coarsely granular marble, probably 
from some of the beds found in that region. 

The Lions from the " Sacred Way " leading from the 
Temple of Apollo to the seashore, in Branchidse, Caria, 
dating 580 B. C, are especially interesting from their great 
antiquity. They are said to be the oldest known specimens 
of Greek sculpture in marble. Some of the reliefs on the 
Harpy Tomb which stood on the Acropolis of the city of 
Xanthus, in Lycia, are in the British Museum. 



138 LIMESTONES AND MARBLES. 

The marbles from Assyria and Eg}-pt are of much older 
date than those from Grecian cities, and include a series of 
slabs, of a hard, fossiliferous limestone with sculptured 
figures representing the battles of Assurbanipal, the grandson 
of Sennacherib, 668 B. C. The sculptures in the palace of 
the latter monarch, 700 B. C, are on gypseous alabaster, and 
represent the king at Lachish. 

Besides the above, are inscriptions of the campaigns of 
Tiglath Pileser 11. against Babylon, 720 B. C. ; inscriptions of 
Merodach Baladin I., King of Babylon, 1320 B. C. ; a black 
marble monument of Shalmaneser IL, 850 B. C, and contem- 
porary with Hazael, King of Syria, and Jehu, King of Judah. 

In the Egyptian department, are a Bacchus in a yellowish 
translucent stone, with large, brilliant scales resembling Parian 
marble ; another specimen of a white, waxy, st3.tud.ry marble 
of coarse texture ; and a third of a bluish tint, with large, 
cr}'stals. The inference is fair that all these varieties were 
found in the ancient quarries of Egypt. 

The collection of marbles in the IMuseum of Liverpool 
includes twenty-nine varieties from the ancient quarries 
of Numidia, Africa, recently discovered by Signor G. B. 
Del Monte, and presented to the Museum by Signor G. 
Fontana, 1876. 

These marbles are conspicuous for their red and yellow 
colors, and in some of their varieties, bear a striking resem- 
blance to the Giallo antico, also a Numidian marble. It 
is possible, then, that the marbles of Del Monte are of the 
same species as the antique. 



CHAPTER X. 

LIMESTONES OF FRANCE. 

Limestones, marbles, serpentines, porphyries and granites 
are very generally distributed throughout th^ eighty-six 
departments of France, though the marbles most widely 
known are limited to certain regions, the largest number of 
varieties being in the south. 

Limestones employed for construction or as marble have 
been grouped in the following classes : Nummulite, Gryphite, 
Hippurite, Miliolite, Calcaire grossier, Calcaire moellon, 
Calc^re polypiers, Calcaire coquillier or Muschelkalk, Cal- 
caire siliceux, Calcaire de la Beauce, Oolite, Caen Stone, 
Pisolitic limestone. Vise and Givet limestones, and limestone of 
Bailly, besides the Faluns and Molasse, which are, in part, 
calcareous. 

All these varieties are later than the Paleozoic era, except 
the Givet, Devonian, and the Vise, Carboniferous ; some 
geologists refer the Griotte wnarbles to the Devonian period. 

The Nummulitic limestone, a Tertiary formation, with a 
most remarkable development throughout the Eastern Hemi- 
sphere, is well represented in the southeast part of France, 
and constitutes, it is said, in the French Alps, one of the 
most interesting features of European geology. It furnishes 
building-stone, and was employed in the city of Bayonne, 
which has its foundation laid on the native rock; and in 
the Pyrenees, where it has been upturned, it yields crystal- 
line marble. 

The Gryphite limestone, a name sometimes applied to the 

139 



140 LIMESTONES AND MARBLES. 

whole Liassic series from the prevalence of the Gryphaea 
incurva, belongs to the Lias of the Jurassic period, conse- 
quently is older than the Nummulite. 

A large area, of which Paris is the centre, is encircled by 
Jurassic strata, largely represented by limestones of a uni- 
form character, covering the surface of the interior of France 
with the exception of the mountains, which are nearly all 
granite, gneiss, or porphyry. They are divided into Lias or 
Gryphite, and Lower, Middle, and Upper Oolite, each group 
being separated, the one from the other, by clay beds and 
each characterized by different fossils. 

The plains composed of the Jurassic rocks are unproduc- 
tive and .monotonous, except where they are intersected by 
steep cliffs and deep valleys cut by numerous quarries. The 
series, on the banks of the Rhone, rests upon dolomites 
and oolitic jaspers, and furnishes material for building, 
and marble for the manufacture of tables, consoles, and other 
articles of furniture. 

Normandy, one of the old divisions of France, is occupied 
by the modern departments of Calvados, Eure, Manche, Orne, 
and Lower Seine. This historical region abounds in Jurassic 
limestones, celebrated for their economic value as building 
material, and for supplying geological specimens, mostly 
obtained from the quarries of Moutiers, near Caen. The rock 
here is loaded with fossils, affording in many places proper 
lumachelles. 

The Lower Oolite includes the famous Caen Stone of Nor- 
mandy, enclosing Ammonites, Belemnites, and other fossils 
corresponding to those of the Great Bath of England. This 
limestone, sometimes exhibiting an oolitic structure, and at 
other times compact, with small spathic scales, is soft, easily 
cut, and of a delicate tint, qualities which render it a valuable 
building-stone. A variety called Calcaire Marbre of Caen, 
destitute of fossils, exhibits other colors, as yellowish clouded 
with rose, gray, and sometimes a lively red. A narrow band 
of Caen Stone, about nine feet thick, has supplied for a long 



LIMESTONES OF FRANCE. I4I 

time, and still supplies, not only France, but other countries, 
with this desirable commodity ; it was employed in the con- 
struction of the Tower of London, Westminster Abbey, Can- 
terbury Cathedral, and other celebrated buildings. 

The Calcaire polypiers, made up of an aggregation of 
polyps, and remarkable for its fossil plants, is quarried in the 
neighborhood of Caen for a building-stone, and has been 
called the "hmestone of the hills," while the Caen Stone has 
been called the " limestone of the plains." 

In the department of Cote d'Or, the Gryphite limestone 
encloses Ammonites of large size, some specimens being nine 
feet in circumference, and in the department of Yonne it 
yields a blue-black marble called by miners " Blue Stone," 
and another variety of a grayish-white named "White Stone." 
In the valleys of the Moselle and Meuthe Rivers, the Gryphite 
is quarried for hydraulic lime, and the well-preserved fortifica- 
tions and fine arcades of Joug-aux-Arches, built by the Ro- 
mans, prove its excellent quality for cement. The citadel of 
Sedan, in Ardennes, is built upon a series of beds enclosing 
this variety. 

There occurs in some localities a limestone colored by a 
brilliant red oxide of iron — eisenrahm, iron mould — called 
Pierre Rouge, a lumachelle in which eisenrahm occupies the 
place of the lost shells. The red tint is exceptional in luma- 
chelles, brown and black being the usual colors. Pierre du 
Serpentine is a lumachelle found near Armay-le-Duc. 

The department of Ardennes, in which is situated the cele- 
brated forest, the Ardenna Silva of the Romans, is based upon 
slate rocks with a limited proportion of hmestones ; of the 
latter, one species of dark color clouded with white supplies 
several varieties of beautiful Crinoidal marbles. A graAular 
quartz of this region resembles in appearance the gray and 
white marbles of Belgium. 

The abrupt sides of the valley of the Meuse display the 
Givet limestone or marble, named for the town on its banks, 
where the rock rises into a mountain or hill on both sides of 



142 LIMESTONES AND MARBLES. 

the stream ; on the top of the Belgian hill was built" the town 
of Charlemont, overlooking Givet. The marble, quarried by 
the inhabitants of both cities, is uniform from the base to the 
summit of the mountain, of a blue-gray color, hard, and sus- 
ceptible of a fine polish. 

The limestone of Glageon furnishes several varieties of 
beautiful marbles known as Glageon Fleuri, Glageon Mele, 
and Glageon Mouchete, called also the marble of St. Anne, 
which is said to rival the Belgian marbles. The quarries of 
Hon Hergies near Bavay, comprise black, gray, and white 
varieties. 

The city of Montbard, in Cote d'Or, built upon an iso- 
lated mountain, was the native place of Buffon, the naturalist, 
and in 1 744, while residing at this place, he began his famous 
explorations in the clay beds on the side of the mountain, 
which led to important discoveries. The ancient chateau 
occupied by Buffon is on an island of Entrochal limestones, 
rising from the valley of the Brienne, possessing, in some of 
the beds, the qualities of marble. The " Great Fountain " 
of Cote d'Or was formed, by subterranean and pluvial waters 
in the interior of the massive limestone. 

Burgundy, including Cote d'Or, Saone et Loire, and Yonne, 
does not yield marbles equal to those of Languedoc in the 
south. Though Guettard, the geologist, recognized more 
than fifty Burgundian varieties, Buffon regarded the greater 
part of them inferior to marbles in color and susceptibility 
to polish. 

The old city of Langres, in Upper Marne, considered of 
great importance during the Roman occupation, was built 
upon a high promontory of Entrochal limestone, which was 
used in its construction. 

At Nancy the Calcaire polypiers is seen in a fine-grained 
rock, covered with yellow calcite resembling alabaster, with 
the cavities vacated by fossils filled with calc spar and 
ochre. Some beds of this formation, upon which the Fort- 
ress of Verdun is built, are quarried as the *' Marble of 



LIMESTONES OF FRANCE. I43 

Nancy," which is not very valuable in consequence of its 
cavities. 

The Great Oolite, corresponding to the English, was em- 
ployed for the buildings of Nancy, and is noted for its numerous 
grottoes. A very white, chalky limestone, of an oolitic struc- 
ture, is used in the department of Meuthe for building and for 
the manufacture of glass. This chalky stone was used for the 
Cathedral of the city of Toul, on the Moselle River, which is 
here crossed by a fine bridge. 

The large masses of oolitic limestone in the wild and pic- 
turesque valley of the Cure appear in the form of caves, 
obelisks, columns, and numerous other shapes more or less fan- 
tastic. Near the village of Arez, occurs a series of grottoes sup- 
ported by columns of stalactites, and supposed to be ancient 
quarries, but abandoned so long ago that all traces of human 
labor have been obliterated. One apartment found in these 
caverns is twelve hundred feet long, forty wide, and eighty- 
five feet high. The limestone in which they occur furnished 
the material for the Cathedral of Auxerre. 

The Oolitic limestone in the valley of the Serain is cele- 
brated for the excellence, beauty, and size of the blocks ; it 
was quarried for the statues and columns of the chapel of the 
Chateau of Versailles, built in the reign of Louis XIV., and 
yields the marbles of Bailly and of Bris. 

The representative rock of the Vosges Mountains is sand- 
stone, which receives the specific name of "Vosges Sand- 
stone." The highest rock on Mount Donon, one of the range, 
affording, it is said, one of the finest and most extensive views 
in France, is a natural monument, interesting for the legends 
to which it has given rise. Blocks of the rock scattered at the 
base, covered with rude sculptures in bas-reliefs, are regarded 
as the ruins of a Druidical temple, or a monument of one of 
the early French kings. On the German side of the Vosges, 
apartments have been cut in the rock, with steps, halls, 
chambers, battlements, platforms, and small windows with 
Gothic ornaments. It is due to the fii*mness of the Vosges 



144 LIMESTONES AND MARBLES. 

sandstone that the old chateaux and castles, which render the 
views of this region charmingly picturesque, have been so 
well-preserv^ed. 

Limestones, though not the fundamental rock, are found 
in this range, of different colors, furnishing, in some of their 
varieties, beautiful marbles, among them a Cipolin marble 
with veins of serpentine and mica of a copper lustre, a fine 
blue and white variety, and a gray marble capable of resisting, 
to a great degree, atmospheric influences. Sometimes a 
Crinoidal limestone of the Vosges, of a white, rose, or violet 
color, and veined with schist, mica, and feldspar, is quarried 
for marble. 

The limestones of the department of Nord develop a 
great variety of marbles valued for their strength and suscepti- 
bility to polish. One species, with dark base, and small 
white spots occasioned by fossils, is called " Petit Granit," 
on account of its resemblance to granite. The beds of the 
Nord marbles extend into Belgium, where they preserve the 
same characteristics. Encrinital marbles of Marbaix are 
similar to the " Petit Granit." 

The Vise limestone, corresponding to the Mountain lime- 
stone of Great Britain, and more properly a Belgian formation, 
is represented in the northeast of France by a deep-blue 
marble with fossils. 

The Vise and Givet formations, yielding gray, fossiliferous 
marbles, and an oolitic limestone quarried under different 
names, for building, are found near Bas-Boulonnais, in the 
north of France ; in this section occurs the variety called 
Marbre Napoleon, enclosing fossils identical with those of the 
English Chalk. 

Between the confluents of the Brienne, Lozain, and Loze, 
rises Mount Auxois, on which the town of Alesia, famous in 
the wars of Julius Caesar, was built. The hill is composed of 
an Entrochal, marly limestone, surrounded by valleys on 
three sides. Where these valleys unite, an elevated plain 
composed of this rock, is spread out, and it was on this 



LIMESTONES OF FRANCE. 145 

plateau that the battle between the Frank and the Roman 
cavalry was fought, which decided the fate of Gaul. Various 
relics of the struggle, in the form of marbles, nails, brick, and 
pottery, have been found in the vicinity. From the south 
side of Mount Auxois, issues the Fountain of Sainte Reine, 
renowned for its supposed medicinal qualities. 

In the valley of the Seine, is developed a limestone or Coral 
Rag, yielding large quantities of shell marbles or lumachelles, 
valued for their beauty and high polish, known as Brocatelle 
de Bourgogne. A hard, compact rock of iron-gray spotted 
with light-gray, composed of a mass of small mussel-shells, is 
called the Marble of Argonne ; and another of similar charac- 
ter found near Pay-de-Bray • is known as the Marble of 
Beauvais, or Hircourt. 

The Calcaire coquillier, corresponding to the Muschelkalk of 
Germany, forming the middle member of the Trias in France, 
is a compact, smoke-gray limestone crowded with fossils, but 
is not uniform in character. Like the German Muschelkalk, 
it encloses the Encrinus liliiformis, together with the bones 
of Saurians. It frequently happens that th^ exterior of the 
rock is yellow, while the interior is blue ; and in some places 
it presents a vertical columnar structure, yielding yellow 
marbles crossed by veins of calcite. The name Crapaud is 
sometimes applied to a breccia associated with this limestone ; 
Gypsum, used for ornamental work, often occurs with this 
formation. 

The Indusial limestone of Auvergne, a remarkable fresh- 
water formation of the Miocene epoch, is composed mostly of 
the cast shells or hollow cases called "indusia," of the Caddis- 
worm, deposited in a shallow lake, which it is supposed 
existed here in former ages. 

The remains of Tertiary Birds of the Miocene beds, in 
the department of Allier alone, comprise seventy species, 
many of them being tropical ; a fresh-water formation, with 
Helices, is found in the same department. The Mountains of 
Forez furnish limestones used in construction, and a light or 



146 LIMESTONES AND MARBLES. 

white saccharoidal marble, with numerous joints and fissures 
which render it unsuitable for sculpture. 

Provence, famous in the literature of France, and celebrated 
for its delightful and salubrious climate, is occupied by the 
southeastern departments on the east side of the Rhone. The 
strata composing this section, including a great variety of 
limestones, marbles, and lumachelles, of different colors, and 
enclosing numerous fossils, form a plateau which extends from 
Provence to the Alpine table-lands. 

The celebrated Campan marbles of the Pyrenees are com- 
posed of calcareous nodules, consisting, in most varieties, 
of the Nautilus and Clymenia cemented by green schist, the 
mass presenting an amygdaloidal structure. 

Shelly limestones, both marine and fresh-water, enter into 
the composition of the Black Mountains, but it is in Langue- 
doc, covering eight departments lying on the west side of the 
Rhone, and along the Mediterranean, that the most noted and 
most beautiful French marbles are to be sought ; and of all the 
quarries in this province those of Cannes, near Black Moun- 
tains, are the most important. The Languedoc formation 
comprises a clear, blue-gray or white limestone, combined 
with green fossiliferous schist, forming a rock similar to 
Cipolin marble, while in some of the beds it resembles the 
"Turquin." 

The Cannes limestones are of considerable thickness, and 
comprise two kinds, compact and schistose ; the latter affords 
several rich and beautiful varieties of the Griotte shell 
marbles. The schist in some species is sombre red, while 
the carbonate of lime is lively red mingled with white ; the 
concretions bear traces of organized beings, the Nautilus, in 
the kind known as Oeil-de-Perdrix, being very distinctly visible. 
This variety sometimes passes to a red schist, forming an im- 
perfect marble, while the green schist is changed to a limestone 
similar to Campan marble. 

Griotte marbles, found in the Pyrenees, enclose the Gonia- 
tite, Cardium, and other Devonian fossils. 



LIMESTONES OF FRANCE. 14/ 

A rich Cannes marble of a rose-yellow, with spots of deep- 
red, crystalline corals, called Couleur-de-Chair, was quite 
extensively used in France during the reigns of Louis XIV. 
and Louis XV., as may be seen by examination of the 
monuments of that period. 

Associated with these beds' are those of Marbre Cervelas, 
sausage, enclosing concretions of calc spar and brown iron, 
but few fossils. A gray marble with Encrinites, belonging'to 
the Cannes group, resembles the Belgian marbles, in its organic 
remains. 

In Herault, on the Mediterranean, molasse forms the hills, 
and a fresh-water limestone the valleys, with the exception of 
the Calcaire moellon, which is marine, while a lacustrine 
breccia of yellow, reddish, and gray marble, extends from 
Montpellier to the department of Gard. 

Saint Loup, an elevation nearly two thousand feet above 
sea-level, crowned by the Hermitage of St. Loup, consists of 
Gryphite, Oolite, and other varieties of limestones of the Ju- 
rassic period. In the department of Var, the mountains of 
Marnes and Esterel, interesting for their geological structure, 
are encircled by a band of limestone. 

The table-land between the Loire and the Seine is found- 
ed upon a fresh-water limestone called Calcaire de la Beauce, 
which constitutes the summits of the hills about Paris, and 
appears south of the Loire in Cantal and Puy de Dome. 
The department of Vendee, celebrated in history for the 
brave resistance of the inhabitants to the armies of the revo- 
lution of 1793, develops the Jurassic limestones, and east of 
Vendee, a fine, white variety yields a desirable building-stone. 

Poitiers, the theatre of the memorable conflicts between 
Charles Martel and the Saracens in the eighth century, and 
King John and the Black Prince in the fourteenth, is in the 
region of the Oolitic formation, which constitutes the cliffs 
and the numerous caverns along the banks of the river Clain 
near the city. 

In several of the departments where the Jurassic limestone 



148 LIMESTONES AND MARBLES. 

predominates, the valleys are deep, with abrupt precipices 
caused by rents made in the rocks. 

The limestone of the coal region, between Nantes and An- 
gers, is a fine, black, fossiliferous rock, while that covering 
the schist on which the latter city is built, at the confluence 
of three rivers, is of the same color and encloses Crinoids. 
Entrochal limestones of a reddish tint yield some beautiful 
marbles and excellent building-stone. 

The limestones of the five departments in the' northwest, 
occupy the peninsula of ancient Brittany, and afford a marble of 
d^ep-black, crossed by veins of white spar, forming a variety 
similar to the highly-prized St. Anne marble. 

The upper Chalk beds of France form a pure white mass, 
generally too soft for building, though sometimes sufficiently 
hard to be used for this purpose. 

THE PARIS BASIN. 

The basin of the Seine, or what is called the Paris Basin, 
includes a territory about one hundred and eighty miles from 
north to south, and ninety miles from east to west, as stated 
by Lyell. It affords a series of marine and fresh-water strata 
of the Tertiary period, comprising a very great variety and 
abundance of organic remains in the character of shells, bones 
of Mammals, Birds, Reptiles, and Fishes. 

The shells are remarkably fresh and natural, comparing 
well with living species except in color. The Miocene strata 
abounds in the remains of quadrupeds, about fifty species 
having been discovered. 

The Tertiary beds present a diversity of rocks, including 
gypsum, sandstone, and a variety of limestones ; of the lat- 
ter the Calcaire grossier is one of the most important mem- 
bers, making a desirable building-stone on account of its com- 
pactness and light, cheerful color. It is interstratified with 
green marls and abounds in organic remains. The most 
characteristic fossil is the Cerithium, an elegant Gasteropod, 



LIMESTONES OF FRANCE. I49 

of which there are one hundred and thirty-seven species in 
the Paris Basin, and nearly all of them represented in the 
Calcaire grossier, which is quarried at Mount Meudon and 
Vaugirard. This formation occurs in other parts of France, as 
at Rennes and Bordeaux. 

The Miliolite limestone, largely made up of the microscopic 
shells of Foraminifers, is found with the Calcaire grossier, 
and is used for construction. 

A siliceous limestone, quite distinct from the others, with 
numerous cavities and very few organic remains, is called the 
Calcaire siliceux, or lower travertine. 

The gypsum, from which the celebrated Plaster of Paris is 
manufactured, is obtained from Mounts Valerian, Chaumont, 
and Montmartre. At the latter place, Cuvier began his inter- 
esting studies on fossils, which subsequently gave him so 
much fame as a comparative anatomist. 

The Paris Basin contains one of the largest, most interest- 
ing, and most important collections of organic remains to be 
found in any geological period, and for Tertiary fossils it is, 
perhaps, unsurpassed. Nature has her great paleontological 
museums, whose rich collections amply repay the patient 
investigator with valuable and interesting facts, and such 
a repository is found in this locality. A list of some of 
the more important genera of shells is given in another 
place. 

The serpentines of France are abundant, and make beau- 
tiful ornamental stones, one of the most striking being found 
in the south, in the department of Tarn, where it is traversed 
by the Aveyron. The scenery of the deep gorge through 
which the river flows is grand and picturesque. 

Molasse, a term applied in Switzerland to the Miocene 
formation, both marine and fresh-water, in this country con- 
sists of a shelly, incoherent, greenish sandstone, while in 
France the rock is composed of quartz, mica, clay, and shells 
cemented by lime ; that of marine origin is very solid, and 
serviceable where great strength is needed. 



150 LIMESTONES AND MARBLES. 

A coarse, soft, and porous kind of limestone, made up of 
shells, corals, and sand loosely agglutinated by lime, employed 
for agriculture and building, is called ''Falun." 

A list of the numerous ornar^ental stones, including from 
one hundred to two hundred different specimens of marbles, 
serpentines, porphyries, and granites, exhibited at the Paris 
Exposition of 1878, is furnished in the Appendix B. 



Plate XII. 




African Red. 




Rosso Antico, 



Akmrtbohq i Co. LiTB. B0CT0.<«. 



\ 



CHAPTER XL 

LIMESTONES OF BELGIUM, GERMANY, AND THE NETHERLANDS. 

I. Belgium. — Some of the limestone formations of Belgium 
are identical with those of the northeast of France ; especially 
is this true of the Givet, Devonian, which takes the name of 
a French town, and the Vise, Carboniferous, called for a 
Belgian town, while both are classed with the limestones of 
the two countries. 

The Eifel, the great Devonian formation of Germany, is 
represented in Belgium by a coralline rock, partly dolomitic, 
upon which the ancient citadel of Huy, on the Meuse, is 
built. 

The Givet limestone is sometimes called the Stringoceph- 
alus, from a characteristic fossil, a name also applied to another 
formation, which causes some confusion in regard to their 
identity. A subordinate limestone, combined with schists, 
encloses both Devonian and Carboniferous fossils. 

The city of Chimay rests upon the Givet formation. The 
limestone in this locality is used for building material and for 
marble, while near Ranee it develops gray marbles and a black 
variety veined with white, like that of Chimay. In this 
vicinity a red and white marble enclosing calc spar and 
Encrinites, and interstratified with the Psammites of Condroz, 
is qifarried for ornamental uses. 

The Carboniferous system is well displayed by its grand 
masses of limestone, including the Vise and the Tournai; the 
former is sometimes dark, affording the black marble of Theux, 
and has its representative in the black schistose limestone of 
Hoyoux, and the black marble of Gobzienne. 

151 



152 LIMESTONES AND MARBLES. 

The Vise limestone is penetrated several times by the 
Meuse between Namur and Dinant, and in some places it 
affords a beautiful lumachelle analogous to the " Petit Granit ;" 
in others, a fine, black marble resembling that of Dinant. 

Along the valley of the Less, a branch of the Meuse, in the 
caverns of the Carboniferous limestone, are found human 
bones along with those of other nimnmals, supposed to be of 
the Paleolithic or Old Stone Age, and contemporary with the 
Mammoth. 

Between the limestone of Givet and the Conglomerate of 
Burnot, a characteristic rock of Belgium, rests the Grauwacke 
of Rouillon, a limestone analogous to the German Grauwacke. 
It is very thick, and passes into a fine-grained dolomite of a 
black, brown, or gray color veined with calcite. 

Psammites or red schists are abundant in Belgium, and those 
o*f Condroz are used for paving-stones. The name has given 
rise to what is called by Dumont the Condrusian system, which 
includes a Crinoidal limestone of the Carboniferous period, 
similar to that of Hainault, on the borders of France, quarried 
under the name of " Petit Granit." This formation is worked 
for its valuable stone, at Tournai, an important town in the 
southwest, and furnishes excellent material for building and 
hydraulic lime. 

The Miocene, of the Tertiary, has an extensive distribution 
in this country ; the Lower Miocene, called by Dumont the 
Rupelian system, from the Rupel, a branch of the Scheldt, 
includes clay used for tiles, and an argillaceous limestone ; 
the formation is very fossiliferous, the Leda or Nucula being 
one of the most characteristic shells. At Mons the Tertiary 
limestone is very fertile in organic remains. 

The beds of Kleyn Spawen, a few miles from Maestricht, 
enclose, says Lyell, about two hundred species of Testacea, 
besides Foraminifera and the remains of fishes. 

The Upper Miocene comprises the beds of the Bolderberg, 
a hill near Hasselt, with fossils corresponding to those of the 
faluns of France. 



LIMESTONES OF BELGIUM, GERMANY, ETC. 1 53 

Belgium, like most other countries, yields limestones and 
marbles not directly traceable to any of the great formations 
having a general distribution , belonging to this class of rocks 
are a compact breccia formed of white, ash-colored, and reddish 
marble fragments, quarried at Dourlers, a black, shell lime- 
stone, and a black coral marble enclosing crystals of dolomite, 
between Chimay and Trelon. 

In the valleys of the Meuse and the Awirs, are found lime- 
stones exhibiting varieties in color, structure, and fossils; some 
of them are quarried under the name of granite. A limestone 
near the coal basin of Namur is related, by its fossils, to the 
Givet, and a variety enclosing the Lima, Ostria, Trigonia, 
Pecten, and Belemnite, is oolitic ; a species with polyps is 
called the " Limestone of Barjosien," and is associated with 
that of Boussu, on the borders of France. 

There are also fresh-water limestones in Belgium, including 
Cretaceous and Tertiary. 

Though the Duchy of Luxembourg belongs to' the Nether- 
lands politically, it has a geological affinity with Belgium and 
France. In this Duchy, the Calcaire coquillier of the Trias 
encloses rolled pebbles of sandstone, and a variety mined for 
lime and plaster is so arenaceous that miners say, " It is a 
lime that carries its own sand." 

The Calcaire grossier is represented in some places by a 
gray or yellowish crystalline rock, and the valley of the Sam- 
bre affords tufa of a concretionary, cellular, or stalactitic 
structure. 

With the numerous ornamental rocks of Belgium may be 
classed serpentines, though they are less known and less 
abundant than those of Great Britain and France. 

The marbles of Belgium, as is well known, are valued for 
their excellence and beauty, and have become an important 
article of commerce. The Belgian black of Namur, unrivalled 
for its beautiful color and exceedingly bright and sparkling 
lustre, has a fine, compact texture, not distinctly granular, 
and takes a remarkable polish ; it is thought to resemble the 



154 LIMESTONES AND MARBLES. 

Nero antico, but its color is deeper. A blue marble is found 
at Namur and other parts of Belgium and in Holland. Da 
Costa describes this marble as possessing an agreeable, uni- 
form, bluish color, compact, solid, and of brilliant fracture, 
taking an excellent polish. It encloses corals and entrochi 
like snow-white spar, affording a beautiful stone. The same 
writer says it was extensively used, in his day, for the steps 
or stairs of buildings in Holland, where it is called "Blue 
Stone." Namur affords a red marble variegated with white, 
which has been 'known as Marble of Charlemont, and a variety 
with dark ground, and large, black and white spots resembUng 
porphyry, called Breccia de Florennes. A red, figured with 
black and white, is found at Mons. A white marble, veined 
and clouded with different colors, is said to be used in the 
construction of the Stadthaus of Amsterdam. 

With other Belgian marbles, there was exhibited at the 
Paris Exposition of 1878, a very showy breccia of black, white, 
dark-yellow, and green, in large and small fragments, crossed 
with fine veins of different colors. 

11. Germany a7id the Netherlands. — The great representa- 
tive limestones of Germany are the Eifel of the Devonian, the 
Zechstein of the Permian, the Muschelkalk of the Triassic, 
the Jura of the Jurassic, and the Planerkalk of the Cretaceous 
period. The Grauwacke, a term of no significance as applied 
to the age of a formation, is generally a gray, compact, fossil- 
iferous limestone, widely distributed, and classed among the 
older Paleozoic rocks. 

The Eifel limestone, which has given the Devonian rocks a 
prominent character on the Continent of Europe, was named 
for the Eifel Mountains, near the Rhine, in Western Prussia, 
where it has a large development. 

The Calceola, the most characteristic shell of the formation, 
is very abundant in the Calceola schiefer, which is contiguous 
to the limestone. This fossil is so peculiar in structure that 
naturahsts have been at a loss where to place it, some regard- 



LIMESTONES OF BELGIUM, GERMANY, ETC. 1 55 

ing it as a Coral, others as a Brachiopod. Above the Eifel 
rests the Stringocephalus Hmestone, a name sometimes 
incorrectly applied to the Eifel. 

The Zechstein, a magnesian limestone, is the chief member 
of the Permian series in Germany ; the name signifies "mine 
stone," so called because it is cut through to reach the copper 
below. This limestone has its representative in Switzerland, 
Russia, Spain, England, and on the Western Continent. On 
the high mountains it is generally a simple formation, but in 
the plains it consists of several subdivisions, including the 
Lower Zechstein, a gray and white limestone, the Middle called 
Smoky limestone, and the Upper or Flatten dolomite. Under 
the Zechstein is the formation, consisting of red sandstone, 
breccia, and igneous rocks, called Rothliegendes, or " red 
lyers." The compact limestone often passes into a fine, 
granular variety enclosing calc spar, which often gives it 
brilliancy. The Zechstein has been carefully studied to 
determine the relative age and succession of strata. 

The Trias, which received its name in Germany, consists of 
three members, of jvhich the middle one is a limestone called 
the Muschelkalk, corresponding to the Calcaire coquillier of 
France and the Guttenstein Kalk of the Alps. The lime- 
stone is from one thousand to one thousand two hundred feet 
thick, and occupies a large area in Hanover and Westphalia, 
and passing over the table-land between Hanover and Stutt- 
gart, reaches the chain of the Vosges on the French frontier. 
It is rich in organic remains, and important as representing 
the life of the Triassic period. The Gervillia is a very 
prominent fossil, but the Encrinus liliiformis, which in this 
formation is often found entire, is the most interesting. 
Mantell refers to a place in Brunswick, near the village of 
Erkerode, where this fossil is obtained from a cream-colored 
limestone, one of the members of this formation. The lower 
beds. of the Muschelkalk are called^Wellenkalk, ** wavy layers ;" 
the upper strata form an Encrinital limestone, and in 
Northern Germany, a member composed almost entirely 



156 LIMESTONES AND MARBLES. 

of the Terebratula vulgaris, is styled Terebratula limestone. 
The Jurassic formation is very complex, comprising a variety 
of limestones covering a large extent of country from the 
Alps to the centre of the Empire ; one member of the group 
receives in Germany the distinctive name of Jura limestone. 

The Alpenkalk is a name given by Humboldt to a forma- 
tion in the south of Europe, called Alpine limestone, different 
from the white or grayish rock of Jurassic age. 

The Planerkalk of Saxony, Hanover, and Westphalia is a 
grayish-white, marly limestone with shells belonging to 
the Cretaceous period. A Serpulite limestone of Westphalia, 
corresponding to the Wealden of England, and the Hils-con- 
glomerate of Hanover and Westphalia, a formation composed 
of grains of quartz cemented by calcareous marl, are of the 
same age as the Planerkalk. 

The Carboniferous period affords a series of limestones in 
Germany as in other countries, but here they do not consti- 
tute any of the most characteristic formations, unless the 
"Culm " of the Rhenish Provinces be considered such. 

The famous Maestricht beds of the Chalk era are located at. 
St. Peter's Mount, a few miles from Maestricht, in the south 
part of Netherlands. Lyell reckons that about one hundred 
feet of calcareous rock, with very peculiar fossils, are under- 
laid by ordinary white chalk enclosing flint; below the strata are 
fifty feet of fine, soft, yellow limestone, which has been 
quarried a long time for building-stone. The entire beds 
form an elevated escarpment, washed by the Jaar on one 
side and by the Meuse on the other ; the banks of the latter 
are composed of fine, white sand with Madrepores, while 
those of the Jaar are calcareous, with the shells in excellent 
preservation, exhibiting, in some instances, their natural 
colors. Among the great number of remains are found fossils 
varying in size from small oolitic concretions to the Moso- 
saurus, a marine reptile supposed to be twenty-four feet long. 

The Zoophytes contained in the rocks are exceedingly 
interesting for their beauty and structure ; one elegant 



LIMESTONES OF BELGIUM, GERMANY, ETC. 1 5/ 

fossil may be compared to a star-shaped flower with six 
petals. The remains comprise petrifactions, casts, and im- 
pressions. 

The Thuringian Forest, covering a considerable extent in 
Central Germany, occupies a part of the ancient Hercynian 
Forest of the Roman period. The rocks are, for the most part, 
Silurian, including dolomites, porphyries, melaphyres, and the 
best roofing and pencil slates ; the limestones are represented 
by the *' Aphrite," which holds a large place in the Muschelkalk 
of this region. In advancing westward, nearly all traces of 
the Silurian rocks of Bohemia, Saxony, and Thiiringerwald 
are lost, wdiile deposits of the Devonian and Carboniferous 
ages increase vastly in extent. 

In the Hartz Mountains, " the shrine where poets have wor- 
shipped," the Devonian formations include limestone, por- 
phyry, labradorite, serpentine or schiller-rock, and compact 
fluor-spar, while the Brocken, " the giant of the chain," vener- 
ated for many a legend, is composed of granite. Near Alten- 
berg, Saxony, occurs a granular limestone with mica, forming 
a Cipolin. 

Devonian and Carboniferous limestones occur in Weimar, 
and the former are found in Franconia. The picturesque 
gorge of the Saale, near Saalield, Bavaria, displays a magnifi- 
cent mass of Cypridinas limestone, while the Zechstein covers 
the terrace. Between Eichstadt and Ratisbon or Regensburg 
the ancient Castra Regia, a variety of cavernous limestones 
are observed, including a species similar to the Solenhofen. 
Amergau, celebrated for the " Passion plays," yields dolo- 
mites, limestones, and a red marble resembling the Ammon- 
ite in grain and color. 

The lithographic slates of Solenhofen, near Pappenheim, 
Bavaria, used in lithography, are a fine-grained, cream-colored 
limestone of the Upper Oolite, enclosing organic remains 
which afford a remarkable illustration of the preservation of 
the more delicate parts of plants and animals. These remains 
include Crustaceans, Fishes, Reptiles, Birds, and Insects, in 



158 LIMESTONES AND MARBLES. 

the form of impressions, showing in the feathers of birds the 
veins and shafts, and in the wings of insects the delicate, 
gauze-like tissues. A Bavarian serpentine of Eozoic age is 
supposed to enclose the Eozoon Bavaricum, similar to the 
Eozoon Canadense. 

Beds of calcareous rocks, developed in the basin of May- 
ence, on the Rhine, are recognized as Paludina, Litorinella, 
and Cerithium limestones, named for characteristic fossils ; 
and a Westphalian species, abounding in cavities, is called 
" Ant Stone," from the fact that ants use these holes for their 
nests. The slaty, convoluted, Carboniferous strata, crowned 
with ruined castles, the monuments of baronial times, form 
the chief feature of the gorges of the Rhine. 

On the authority of Roemer, Silesia gives a group of lime- 
stones of different geological periods ; Mountain or Carbon- 
iferous limestone, Muschelkalk, Triassic, a species resembling 
Solenhofen slates, called the stratum of Exogyra virgula, 
Nerinaean limestone, the Rhynchonella beds, one hundred and 
fifty feet thick, and the Ammonite beds. The Jurassic strata 
resemble those of South Germany, and the Tertiary is repre- 
sented by a limestone from five hundred to seven hundred 
feet thick, corresponding to the Leitha, near Vienna. 

The ancient Grauwacke, in the mountains of Breslau, have 
passed into crystalline schists and marbles ; at Waldenburg, 
southeast of Breslau, Devonian limestones are found. 

The Rauch-wacke of Germany, composed of the fragments 
of other rocks cemented by lime, forms a breccia identical 
with the Nagelfluhe of Switzerland, but the Rothliegende is 
the characteristic conglomerate. Von Cotta describes the 
conglomerate of St. Loretta, in the Leitha Mountains, enclos- 
mg hollow limestone pebbles, as exceptional in character. 
It is formed of the bones of animals, which are very white, 
cemented by a brick-red, calcareous paste, the combination 
forming a dull red marble mottled with white, used as an or- 
namental stone. 

A fresh-water formation of great thickness, composed of 



LIMESTONES OF BELGIUM, GERMANY, ETC. 1 59 

siliceous infusoria, is spread over a considerable area in the 
vicinity of Berlin. 

'Those parts of Germany abundant in limestones afford, 
says Bischof, numerous deposits of calcareous tufa, sometimes 
from twelve to fifteen feet thick: it was formed in the 
Roman Aqueduct, from the Eifel Mountains to Cologne, in 
such masses that it has been used for columns in churches. 
These tufas, with fresh-water limestones of the Tertiary 
period, form an element in the rock system of Wurtemberg, 

Germany has its limestone caverns, affording the beautiful 
and peculiar phenomena seen in the caves of other countries. 
In the one called Foster's Kohle, the stalactites appear like 
pellucid alabaster, while the top of the cave resembles a rich- 
ly-fretted Gothic roof with pendent corbels. 

Agates form so considerable a majority of the ornamental 
stones of Germany that a brief notice of them may not be 
irrelevant. The most celebrated are those of Oberstein on the 
Nahe, in the Rhenish Provinces, which are quarried from an 
amygdaloid rock. The roofs of the numerous mines are kept 
constantly wet, while the water, holding silica in solution, 
dropping through, collects in hollows, — important conditions 
in the formation of agates. They are artificially colored in 
layers arranged one above another, and this process of color- 
ing proves that siliceous matter can be penetrated by liquids. 

The varieties of German marbles are very numerous, on 
the authority of Da Costa, but it is probable that some spe- 
cies used in his da are not quarried at the present time. A 
list of these marbles is given in the Appendix. 

This sketch would be incomplete without some reference 
to the antiques now in the possession of the government, at 
Berlin. 

The Old IMuseum contains the Gallery of Original Sculp- 
tures, about one thousand objects in all, some of which are 
considered of great merit. The collection embraces the mar- 
ble statues and busts of the gods, heroes, and emperors of the 
later Roman Empire. 



l60 LIMESTONES AND MARBLES. 

Assyrian art is represented by sculptures in alabaster, taken 
from the palaces of Calah and Nineveh, erected between the 
ninth and tenth centuries, before the Christian era. 

Besides original marbles, the Museum has a valuable col- 
lection of casts of sculptures found, since 1875, on the site of 
the national shrine of the Greeks at Olympia, but the most 
interesting antique relics are the marbles of Pergamos, which 
the German Government has recently purchased of Turkey, 
with the design of reproducing, at Berlin, the entire structure 
of which they formed a part. 

Pergamos, the modern Pergama or Bergama, is in Asia 
Minor, on the Caicus, about twenty miles from the sea. It 
was built on the slopes of two hills, in one of the most beau- 
tiful and fertile valleys of the world. The ruins of the Acrop- 
olis of the old town are still to be seen, consisting of a 
theatre, amphitheatre, stadium, temples, etc. The origin of 
the city is lost in the traditions of a remote antiquity, but 
it became an important place after the conquest of Alex- 
ander the Great, on account of its celebrated library, which 
rivalled that of Alexandria, and as the centre of a great 
school of literature, and the seat of one of the Christian 
churches of Asia. 

The Germans have made some interesting discoveries near 
the Acropolis of the old city. By excavating they found a 
thick wall adorned with reliefs, which proved to be the exte- 
rior wall of a colossal altar. A structure of this kind forty 
feet high, with sculptures representing the battles of the gods, 
is mentioned by ancient writers ; Pausanias refers to the 
altar of Pergamos as similar to the one at Olympia. 

Continuing the excavations, a quadrangular structure, 
one hundred feet square, was unearthed, with groups 
of statues arranged around it, some broken, and their frag- 
ments strewn on the ground. On the east side were two 
groups, one representing the battle of Athene, the other, 
Jupiter darting his thunderbolt at a giant. It is believed by 
German archaeologists, that the altar was erected nearly two 



LIMESTONES OF BELGIUM, GERMANY, ETC. l6l 

hundred years before the present era, to commemorate the 
victories of one of the kings over his enemies. 

When re-erected the altar will be forty feet high and four 
hundred in circumference, with a sculptured frieze. An 
inner marble staircase will lead up to the offering altar, also 
carved, and surrounded by -a hall of columns. The collective 
sculptures of the altar are intended to represent the giants 
storming Olympus. 

Besides the principal groups of Zeus and Athene, there 
were found several minor groups and statues ; a head of 
Medusa resembling the Medusa of the Villa Ludovisi, Rome, 
affording evidence that the two pieces of sculpture were of 
the same period in art. It is claimed that the torso of Posei- 
don resembles that of the Vatican, and one of Apollo that of 
the Belvedere. 

The marble is of coarser grain than the kind used for Greek 
and Roman sculpture generally, and was probably obtained 
from some neighboring quarry. 



CHAPTER XII. 

LIMESTONES OF SWITZERLAND AND THE ALPS. 

The Alpine chain, like most other lofty ranges, belongs to 
the youngest of the mountain systems, having been elevated 
during the Tertiary period ; hence the deposits are of different 
ages, from Paleozoic to recent. The Alps, including the Jura, 
covering the greater part of Switzerland and portions of the 
adjacent countries, are divided into t^arious groups or ranges, 
each characterized by some distinctive feature. 

The Eastern Alps consist of an axis of Paleozoic rocks, 
with the exception of the Permian, which are not well repre- 
sented in Southern Europe, flanked by zones of calcareous 
strata enclosed by Tertiary deposits. The fossiliferous lime- 
stones of Gratz, of the Styrian Alps, the eastern range of 
the chain, belong to the older Paleozoic formations, but as 
they extend westward into Switzerland their fossils have been 
nearly obliterated by metamorphism. 

The Trias has a remarkable development in the St. Cassian 
beds, elevated more than five thousand feet above the sea, 
which, on account of their importance, are sometimes called 
the Alpine Trias. The limestones of this formation are very 
abundant in the Tyrol, and often appear in vertical walls 
superimposed by Jurassic dolomites. 

Though the Trias is abundant in the Tyrol, it exists only 
to a limited extent in the Central Alps, but occurs in the 
northern groups, and includes a large variety of limestones 
known by different names. 

The Liassic formation, constituting the lower member of 
the Jurassic, is called, by some geologists, the Alpine lime- 

162 



LIMESTONES OF SWITZERLAND AND THE ALPS. 1 63 

stone, in the Salzburg Alps, it is separated into two great 
masses by shales, sandstones, and salt-deposits ; in other 
places it is represented by grayish limestone, with very few 
fossils ; while in Germany, France, and England it includes a 
large number and variety. 

The Jurassic limestones of the Eastern Alps differ in 
character from those of the Western ; the former are generally 
light-colored, and include great masses of dolomite penetrated 
by porphyry and other igneous rocks, while the limestones of 
the latter are dark or black, passing into gypsum, which some- 
times forms entire mountains. The regions about Mont 
Blanc, Mont Cenis, and the gorges of the Maurienne are 
considered zones, along which the transformation of limestone 
into gypsum has taken place. In the South Tyrol, the Red 
Ammonite limestone forms the summit of the Jurassic 
strata. 

Dolomite, corresponding to the Lower Lias, forms a char- 
acteristic rock of the Northern Alps ; that found at St. 
Gotthard is associated with fluor-spar, and that of the Binnen 
Thai is remarkable for its phosphorescence and the great variety 
of minerals it encloses. 

The Cretaceous formations embrace the Inoceramus lime- 
stone, equivalent to the Chalk, and the Neocomian, forming 
the lower member, and by far the thickest. 

In the Venetian Alps, the Cretaceous .limestone is white 
with fossils and bands of flint ; in Austria, it comprises Hip- 
purite limestone and gray, pink, and yellow marble ; in Savoy, 
some beds of this formation are used for marble. The 
Cretaceous of the Swiss Alps affords a Gryphasa limestone, a 
Caprotina, representing the Scaglia of Italy, the yellow 
Neuchatel, the Spatangus, and the Aptychus, and a limestone 
similar to the Biancone of Lombardy. There is, in the 
environs of Mont Blanc, says Murchison, a complete succes- 
sion of Cretaceous rocks, passing gradually into Nummulitic 
beds. 

The chief mass of Mount Pilatus is composed of the upper 



164 LIMESTONES AND MARBLES. 

Neocomian limestone, above which rests the Nummulitic, 
covered witli flysch, a formation comprising limestone, sand- 
stone, and schist, corresponding to the macigno of Italy. It 
is said that the Neocomian formation on the north side of this 
mountain, presents one of the finest mural precipices along the 
whole outer edge of the Alps. 

The low, undulating country is covered with molasse and 
nagelfluhe, which are spread over the canton of Lucerne, and 
form immense deposits on Mount Righi, attaining from six 
thousand to eight thousand feet in thickness. 

The Inoceramus limestone, or Sewer-kalk, encloses on all 
sides the picturesque canton of Schwytz, and composes the 
grand, red and white peaks of the Mythen which overlooks 
the town of Schwytz. This formation differs from all other 
Alpine limestones, and bears a» striking resemblance to the 
Italian Scaglia. 

The Nummulitic limestone, more than ten thousand feet 
thick, has, in some regions, become crystalline marble. It 
occurs in the cantons of Lucerne, Underwald, Glarus, Schwytz, 
Appenzell, and St. Gall, forming an immense zone covered by 
a vast accumulation of flysch. 

The Tertiary rock quarried as Glarus slates is a calcareous 
flagstone with veins of white spar, and remarkable for fossil 
scales and teeth of fishes. 

The canton of Appenzell has been made classic, writes 
Murchison, by the investigations of Escher de Linth. Near 
Lake V/allenstadt is seen the best exhibition in Switzerland 
of the entire succession of the Cretaceous, Nummulitic, and 
flysch formations. . In all portions of the Swiss and Bavarian 
Alps the flysch, with the Nummulitic limestone, constitutes 
one of the grandest formations of the chain, equalling, if not 
surpassing, in thickness the entire Jurassic and Cretaceous 
limestones. 

The Griinten m southwest Bavaria is composed of white 
Neocomian limestone, except on the west slope, which consists 
of the Inoceramus or Sewer-kalk, of a light-gray or green, 



LIMESTONES OF SWITZERLAND AND THE ALPS. 1 65 

passing into the red of the Mythen limestone or the Italian 
Scaglia. In the environs of the Griinten, the Nummulitic 
encloses the iron ore of Southofen, in the valley of the Iller ; 
the accompanying flysch, represented by a light-gray sand- 
stone, affords an excellent building-stone similar to the Pietra- 
forte of Florence. 

The limestone formations near the Lake of the Four Can- 
tons, present a curious instance of the foldings and contortions 
of strata. The upper Jura is seen near the water's edge at 
Tell's Chapel, while above, the Neocomian, green-sand, Sewer- 
kalk, Nummulitic limestone, and flysch are all twisted 
together. 

The Tertiary strata form a large and important element in 
the geology of Switzerland. Besides the great Nummulitic 
formation, and part of the flysch of the Eocene, the IMiocene 
deposits have a thickness of seven thousand or eight thousand 
feet, including both fresh-water and marine beds, underlying 
a great part of the country between the Alps and the Juras, 
covering the plains, and constituting some of the high 
mountain summits. This formation, called JMolasse, from mol, 
soft, embraces compact, soft, and often incoherent rocks, of 
the character of limestones, sandstones, marls, and clays, 
arranged in three groups, the upper and lower of fresh-water 
origm, and the middle, marine. The upper series encloses 
the celebrated CEningen beds ; the marine deposits, some- 
times found at a considerable elevation, include shells identical 
with those of the Vienna basin and the faluns of France ; in 
the lower, a large number of fossil plants, including more than 
five hundred species, are embedded. 

Molasse is essentially a Swiss formation, though it has its 
representatives, with some modifications, in France, Spain, 
Portugal, Rhenish Germany, Baden, Wurtemberg, and Bavaria. 
The valleys covered with molasse are very considerable, oc 
cupying the great basin between the Jura and the Vosges 
Mountains. 

The hmestones of the formation are gray, white, bluish. 



l66 LIMESTONES AND MARBLES. 

brown, or black, sometimes concretionary, and largely lacus- 
trine in origin ; the sandstones are agglutinated by a calcareous 
paste, and the clays are serviceable for tiles and pottery. 

The marine molasse is made up largely of fossiliferous sand- 
stones, while the fresh-water molasse is more calcareous. 
The limestones of the latter hold both fresh-water and land 
remains, and are of sombre or lively, variegated colors. The 
strata of muddy waters forming a link between the marine and 
fresh-water deposits, and partaking of the nature of both, in- 
clude foliated, marly, bituminous limestones, which burn with 
a flame attended by a thick, fetid smoke. 

The Tertiary includes a breccia of porphyry pebbles, and 
limestone called nagelfluhe, corresponding to the German 
Rauch-wacke, a magnesian limestone, and is found interstrati- 
fied with the molasse. A more recent deposit of the nagel- 
fluhe, consisting principally of yellow mud enclosing the bones 
of gigantic Mammals, and covered by erratic blocks, occupies 
considerable space in the region of the Jura. Modern strata 
afford calcareous tufas, which are very abundant in the Jurassic 
regions, and are quarried for light masonry work. They are 
generally porous and contain innumerable cavities, sometimes 
enclosing fossils. 

In nearly every country are found vast storehouses of organic 
remains, illustrating not only the geology of that region] but 
often leading to important results in establishing facts which 
have a continental application. 

Switzerland affords an example of these deposits so valuable 
to the geologist, found in the molasse at CEningen, on the 
Rhine, between Constance and Schaffhausen, extending over 
an area of about ten miles. The river between these places 
flows through a depression of this formation, which rises on 
both sides into hills from seven hundred to nine hundred feet 
in height. 

In this basin, formely the bed of an ancient lake, are found 
marls and a cream-colored, fine-grained limestone, exceedingly 
rich in fossil plants, shells. Fishes, Reptiles, and Insects. 



/ 

Plate XIII. 




Stena. 




Spanish Brocatello. 



Armsthon* * Co. Lira. Bos*o.<c. 



LIMESTONES OF SWITZERLAND AND THE ALPS. 16/ 

The place has a celebrity among naturalists, for the discovery 
in 1700, of a gigantic Salamander, at first supposed to be a 
human skeleton. 

The total thickness of the beds, which are of fresh-water 
origin, has been estimated to be from thirty to forty feet, but 
subsequent excavations may have changed this estimate. 
There are two quarries, including numerous beds, each with 
its peculiar fossils, from which the remains have been taken, 
the lower one being five hundred and fifty feet below Lake 
Constance ; in one of the beds, the bones of the Mastodon 
have been found, in another were enclosed a large number of 
insects in a remarkably natural state, while the leaves and 
flowers, with their delicate veins and petals, have found a safe 
depository in this rocky herbarium. Lyell says these remains 
give an insight into the state of the animal and vegetable life 
of the Upper Miocene epoch, such as is found nowhere else 
in the world. Between four hundred and five hundred species 
of plants, and more than eight hundred of insects, had been 
exhumed from the CEningen strata, to the year 1859. ^ 
desiccated lake is supposed to have been fed by springs or 
streams holding carbonate of lime in solution, which being 
precipitated to the bottom, formed a calcareous tufa enclosing 
all substances deposited by the water. 

A study of these fossils, especially the plants and insects, 
is exceedingly interesting, presenting, as it does, to the 
imagination, a remarkably graphic picture of the flora and 
fauna of the period. " We know," remarks one writer, '' the 
character of the trees and flowers that grew on the banks of 
the lake, and of the insect life that flitted among the 
branches." 

The Jura Mountains, separating Switzerland from France 
and Germany, extend from Geneva in a northeasterly direction, 
between one hundred and two hundred miles, covering in 
breadth an area of about thirty miles. They have a geolo- 
gical interest on account of the important Jurassic system of 
rocks, named for this chain, and largely developed throughout 



1 68 . LIMESTONES AND MARBLES. 

its course. The Swiss Jura consist of many parallel ridges, 
with intervening, longitudinal valieys, forming a succession of 
anticlinals and synclinals, composed of fossiliferous strata, 
chiefly of the Triassic, Jurassic, Cretaceous, and Tertiary for- 
mations. 

The Trias of the Swiss Jura, generally covered by the 
Jurassic formation, comprises three members, the second of 
the series being the Terraine conchylien, corresponding to 
the Muschelkalk of Germany and the Calcaire coquillier of 
France, and sometimes called Rauchgrauer kalkstein. The 
lower beds of the Terraine conchylien corresponding to the 
Wellenkalk of the Germans, are composed of a magnesian 
limestone of a smoke-gray color, full of fossils. This mem- 
ber of the formation is not found in the Swiss Jura, but 
it covers the vast spaces of the eastern side of the Black 
Forest in Baden, in the Herzynienne Jura, named for the Isle 
Herzynienne, supposed to be an island when the formations 
were deposited in the Triassic-Jurassic ocean, and to cover 
nearly all the country of Baden. The principal mass of the 
Terraine conchylien is composed of the Muschelkalk, prop- 
erly so called, and forms the axis of the great Jurassic chain. 
The limestone is smoke-gray, quite fine, homogeneous, some- 
times granular and sometimes compact. This formation 
reaches an enormous thickness, but compared with the 
Muschelkalk of Germany and France, it encloses but few organic 
remains. The characteristic fossils are Crinoids, whose stems 
sometimes form whole beds, and the Ostrea, Pecten, and 
Ceratite. Most of the fossils are found in the Black Forest ; 
in the Jura only the remains of the Sea-lily occur, while Fishes 
and Reptiles, enclosed in the formation in other places, are en- 
tirely wanting here. The compact variety of this limestone 
was used by the Romans for the construction of the more sub- 
stantial portions of the town of Augusta Rauracorum, on the 
Rhine. The limestone passes into a compact, granular gyp- 
sum of a clear white with gray bands, furnishing a plaster of 
the best quality, rivalling that of the Paris Basin. 



LIMESTONES OF SWITZERLAND AND THE ALPS. 1 69 

The Terraine conchylien or Muschelkalk is succeeded by 
the vast series of Jurassic beds, constituting a formation 
which differs essentially from the Triassic, in fossils and in 
lithological features. 

The formation constitutes the most important element in 
the Jurassic chain, and holds a prominent place in the geology 
of Switzerland. The diversity in the constitution of the 
different beds affords evidence of a difference in origin, some 
being deposited on muddy bottoms, some on shores, others in 
deep water, but throughout the entire formation are scattered 
fossil remains in prodigious masses. 

Gressly divides the Jurassic series into the Lias, the Lower 
Oolite, the Oxford, and the Upper Oolite, adopting, to a 
certain extent, the English method. The Lias or Gryphite 
limestone is abundantly developed in the cantons of Basle, 
Argau, and in Soleure, but thins out in Berne, and gradually 
disappears in the southwest cantons. Though variable in 
details, the formation is characterized in Switzerland, as every- 
where else, by the immense quantities of the Gryphaea it holds, 
which are usually well-preserved. The rock is bluish-gray, 
from twelve to twenty feet thick, and is quarried for building- 
stone. 

The Lower Oolite embraces limestones varying in color and 
texture, some of which are of the nature of lumachelles. One 
species is called Dogger, and another, La Dalle Nacree, " slabs 
of pearly earth," consisting of thin beds from one to six inches 
but crowded with the shells of the Ostrea. 

The Upper Oolite consists largely of limestones, generally 
of light colors clouded with gray, blue, and yellow ; the group 
is divided into Coralline limestones and Portland Stone. The 
Coralline beds are thick, and cover a large area in the northern 
Jura, where they yield a stone used in art seen in the sculp- 
tured statues, crosses, and other decorations of the Burgun- 
dian era. The rock can be cut with the facility of ordinary 
tufa, and resists, to a remarkable degree, atmospheric influ- 
ences, as is proved by the ruins at Augusta Rauracorum. 



I/O LIMESTONES AND MARBLES. 

The Romans quarried this stone near Delemont, and trans- 
ported immense blocks to the Rhine, from which they cut the 
numerous columns and sculptured capitals used to adorn the 
buildings of the ancient city of the Rauraci, the present Augst, 
near Basle. 

The Portland Stone, classed by Swiss geologists in five 
groups, comprises a Coralline variety enclosing fossils and im- 
portant in determining Jurassic strata, and an impure limestone 
loaded with fossils, denominated " Charriages." The Portland 
series, called Jurakalk, furnishes excellent building material, 
the most celebrated quarries being found in the canton of 
Soleure, where it has been used for the fortifications, the 
Cathedral, considered the finest in the country, and other 
buildings in the city of Soleure. 

The Jurassic formation is pre-eminently limestone, and quite 
extensively distributed, forming a part of Mont Saleve, south 
of GeneA;a, and appearing in Vaud and other regions ; ^ut it 
has its greatest development in Soleure, Basle, and Argau. 
The Nerinaean and the Astarte limestones of this period 
afford marble. 

The Jura limestones are often fissured, enclosing innumer- 
able caverns remarkable for their peculiar structure. The 
walls are often encrusted with calc spar in banded layers, of a 
lively red, colored by iron or manganese, which, penetrating 
the limestone, imparts to it a dendritic character. These 
caves have been explored for precious metals, often to no pur- 
pose, though in the Blauenberg chain, mines of silver called 
Silberloch, "pits of silver," have been worked in the Coralline 
formation. 

The Cretaceous rocks, constituting an important part of the 
Alps, exist only in a rudimentary state in the Swiss Jura. 
The Neocomian, which received its name from Neufchatel, 
where it is displayed, includes several varieties of limestones, 
sometimes oolitic, and not unfrequently of the nature of lu- 
machelles. A yellow, compact, magnesian limestone, holding 
an abundance of shells, and a fine, crystalline, red variety with 



LIMESTONES OF SWITZERLAND AND THE ALPS. I /I 

few fossils, are comprised in the group. The Upper Neoco- 
mian constitutes what is termed the zone of the Rudistes, a 
group of fossils including Hippurites, Radiolites, Spherulites, 
and a few others, peculiar to the Chalk formation. The Ru- 
distes strata recognized on the north side of Mont Saleve extend 
to Lake Annecy, constituting the entire rock of a hill near by. 
The chain of Mont Saleve in France, reaching more than 
seven leagues, is divided into four ranges by small, interven- 
ing valleys, and is composed of Jurassic and Cretaceous lime- 
stones. The Tertiary formation constitutes the small hills 
and valleys enclosing the groups of the chain, which rise like 
*' islands of limestone in a sea of molasse." 

Many species of marbles are derived from the Swiss lime- 
stones and dolomites, including those valued for their qualities 
as an ornamental stone, 

A Coralline marble of light-brown, enclosing the Madrepora 
vermicularis, of pale yellow, glittering spar, exhibiting large 
stars with a variable number of rays, forms a compact marble 
receiving a medium polish. Another kind of Madrepore 
appears like a gray, semi-pellucid flint, resembling the Indian 
agate ; the color varies from ash-gray to grayish-black tinged 
with red, while the coral consists of white, pentagonal columns 
crowned with a star. A similar kind is found in England, 
where it is called "Feather Stone." Vevay on Lake Geneva,, 
and Doret sent to the Paris Exposition many varieties of 
beautiful marbles, including a Cipolin of cream-colored ground, 
shaded with delicate purple and green waves, resembling the 
antique Cippolino. Another species was similar to the Rosso 
Levantino of Italy. 

For other varieties of Swiss marbles, see Appendix C. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

LIMESTONES OF THE AUSTRIAN EMPIRE, DENMARK, SCAN- 
DINAVIA, AND THE POLAR REGIONS. 

I. Austria. — The calcareous rocks of this large Empire 
afford a variety of formations, some of them being of great 
interest to the paleontologist. Each province has its lime- 
stone series, yielding, to a greater or less extent, marbles suit- 
able for decoration. 

The principal formations are the Planerkalk, Cretaceous, 
the Zechstein, Permian, found in Germany, and the Nummu- 
litic, Tertiary, and an Ammonite limestone. The formations of 
less extensive range include a limestone corresponding to the 
Italian Biancone, Liassic ; another, similar to the Scaglia of 
Italy, Cretaceous ; the limestone of Mythen, near Schwartz, 
enclosing Corals; and some other fossiliferous species of 
brown, red, and white colors. 

The Planer limestone is found in Bohemia, Silesia, Poland, 
Gallicia, and the Carpathian Mountains, showing that these 
regions are younger than the Chalk period. A variety of 
hmestones and marbles is developed in the Carpathian range, 
whose highest peaks are nearly ten thousand feet, comprising 
red and white marble, Encrinital marbles, and a red breccia 
belonging to the group thought to be analogous to some of the 
marbles of northern Italy. 

Bohemia has attracted the attention of geologists by its rich 
collection of fossils important to scientific investigation. 

By the discoveries of Barrande, who devoted more than ten 
years to geological researches in this country, it has become 
the most interesting in Central Europe for its Paleozoic 

172 



LIMESTONES OF THE EMPIRE OF AUSTRIA. 1 73 

records of the older rocks. The whole Silurian system is rep- 
resented around Prague, the fossils being identical with those 
of the same age in Scandinavia, Russia, Great Britain, and 
North America. 

The venerable and interesting city of Prague, renowned for 
its numerous palaces and 'churches, its University, Library, 
and Museum, is built upon Lower Silurian schists and lime- 
stones cut through by the Moldau, while to the south of the 
city, the Upper Silurian system displays limestones abound- 
ing with Corals and other fossils. 

No less than eighty-eight species of Trilobites have been 
found in one variety of limestone marked F by Barrande in his 
" Primordial Zone," and another denoted by E, enclosing one 
hundred and eighty-three species, with four hundred species 
of Cephalopods. The Trilobites were furnished with compound 
eyes. Barrande counted thirty thousand lenses in a single 
one, and as their eyes are similar to those of existing Crusta- 
ceans and Insects, the fact is established that the mutual 
relations of light and the eye were the same in the early 
geological eras as now. Trilobites reached their climax in 
this age, and the Silurian rocks became '' their grand mauso- 
leum." 

The whole number of Silurian species to 1872 is estimated 
at ten thousand and seventy-two ; Barrande found about two 
thousand eight hundred in Bohemia ; one thousand five hun- 
dred of them belonged to the Nautilus family, including the 
Nautilus tyrannus, the oldest species and of huge size. 'The 
fossils in the basin of Prague, says this geologist, are the 
oldest mummies ever exhumed. 

A limestone with concretions like the ''ball-stones" of Wen- 
lock, England, is quarried on the Moldau ; in other parts of 
Bohemia, rocks are found composed of the remains of Cystid- 
eans, — Paleozoic Crinoids. The polishing stone of Bilin, 
used in the preparation of marble works, is a Tertiary fresh- 
water deposit, constituting beds often fourteen feet thick, 
composed entirely of the siliceous shells of the Gaillonclla, a 



1/4 LIMESTONES AND MARBLES. 

vegetable fossil so small that a cubic inch of stone, as esti- 
mated by Ehrenberg, contains forty-one million of these mi- 
croscopic organisms. Another deposit of fine, white earth 
resembling magnesia, composed of the Campylodiscus, is 
developed near Egra ; and other entire strata are known, con- 
sisting wholly of similar, minute, diatomaceous shells. 

Sprudelstone is the product of the hot springs of Carlesbad, 
a city of Bohemia, founded by Charles IV., A. D. 1370. The 
stone contains about ninety-seven per-cent of lime, the remain- 
der, of various other products, and presents alternate layers 
of white and brown. A hard, fibrous, brown sprudelstone is 
used for the manufacture of ornaments. 

Limestones with Devonian fossils are met with in the en- 
virons of the strong fortress of Olmutz, in Moravia. The 
crystalline rocks, extending from the Sudetic Mountains 
north of Moravia to the Carpathians, includes saccharoidal 
limestones, probably Paleozoic. 

A white, compact limestone crossed by red veins, quarried 
in Transylvania for marble, is unfossiliferous, but from its 
resemblance to a Cretaceous species, enclosing fossils, found 
in the southwest part of this province, it is supposed to belong 
to that period. The beds of the Alpine ranges of Transylva- 
nia have been subjected to many elevations, plications, and 
overturnings, and the rocks have been worn more or less by 
erosion. Mount Negoi, the highest point of the chain, is 
nearly eight thousand two hundred feet, and here the Cre- 
taceous limestone affords some grand scenery, havmg been 
cut by deep, long valleys, presenting high escarpments like 
the walls of a fortification. The valley of the upper Schyle, 
a branch of the Danube, is completely isolated from the sur- 
rounding regions, with which communication can be had only 
by means of frightful mountain roads, impassable except to 
pedestrians and beasts of burden. 

The ''dolomite mountains" of the Tyrol, unlike, in appear- 
ance, any others, cover an area of more than seventeen hundred 
square miles, and stand like vast obelisks or towers, often with 



1 



^ 



LIMESTONES OF THE EMPIRE OF AUSTRIA. 1 75 

serrated ridges and peaks, shooting into the air far above the 
line of perpetual snow, imposing, and sometimes fantastic in 
appearance. The Sasso di Ranch, one of the obehsks, two 
hundred and fifty feet high, has been compared to a mountain 
in ruins, surrounded by immense fragments of rock scattered 
about in wild confusion. No description, says an eye-witness, 
can portray the effect of these white, solitary columns, 
streaked with pale orange, as they shoot upwards like needles 
from the ruins around their base. 

The Vienna Basin comprises both marine and fresh-water 
formations of the Tertiary period, consisting of sands, clays, 
conglomerates, and limestones, filled with organic remains, 
including mammalia. Some of the Gasteropods and Lamelli- 
branchs are identical with living species of the Mediterranean, 
Indian, and African seas ; one species of the Cypraea, Buc- 
cinum, and Oliva have their representatives on the western 
coast of Africa. 

The Foraminifer Amphistegina is characteristic of the 
Miocene ; while among Mammals are found the Dinotherium 
and the Mastodon, enclosed in the Leitha formation, a Tertiary 
limestone occurring on the Leitha, an affluent of the Danube, 
and represented by a fossiliferous limestone of Gratz. 

Nummulitic, Hippurite, and Caprina limestones of the 
Tertiary and Cretaceous periods are developed in Illyria, 
Styria, Istria, and Dalmatia, even to the borders of the Adri- 
atic. The Nummulite of Istria is composed almost entirely 
of shells. 

Until the discovery of the St. Cassian and Hallstatt beds, 
it was thought that the Trias was of fresh or brackish water 
origin, and nearly destitute of fossils, therefore when the 
abundant marine fauna enclosed in these beds were revealed, 
paleontologists were surprised and delighted at the rich 
treasure so unexpectedly brought to light. 

They are the more remarkable for comprising Paleozoic 
genera not found elsewhere later than the Permian period. 
The beds are exceedingly fossiliferous, enclosing six hundred 



176 LIMESTONES AND MARBLES. 

species of Invertebrates, constituting important links between 
the Paleozoic and Mesozoic rocks. St. Cassian is on the south 
side of the Austrian, or the Carnic Alps, between the Eisach, 
a branch of the Adige, and the Piava, east of Botzen ; Hall- 
statt is northeast from St. Cassian in the Noric Alps. Though 
the beds of these two locahties are at considerable distance 
from each other, yet their organic remains are similar. The 
St. Cassian veins include the Guttenstein limestone ; the St. 
Cassian, a red, pink, and white limestone; the Drachstein, 
of a grayish color ; and the Koessen or Rhaetic limestone, gray 
and black. A shell limestone found near Hallstatt and the 
shell marble of Raibel belong to the same period. 

Carinthia, in the southwestern part of Austria, yields the 
remarkably beautiful lumachelle called Fire-marble. The 
ground is very dark or black, and the shells, with which it is 
filled, emit iridescent reflections, due to the pearly lining or 
nacre of the Ammonite. This substance exhibits various 
hues and brilliant, flame-like spots, which impart to the Carin- 
thian marble a resplendent quality, vying with the opal in 
its beautiful effect. These chatoyant reflections are seen in 
some of the shell marbles of other countries, especially in the 
rich blues of France ; but next to the Carinthian in beauty and 
brilliancy are those obtained near Moscow, Russia. 

The Hallstatt and St. Cassian beds develop from eight 
hundred to one thousand feet of red, pink, and white marble, 
enclosing more than eight hundred species of fossils. 

A white, granular dolomite called Predazzit, from Predazzo, 
in the Tyrol, is a very beautiful ornamental stone, and has 
been regarded by some scientists as a special mineral. 

See Appendix C. 

11. Denmark. — The Cretaceous are the most prevalent 
rocks of Denmark, forming the chalk cliffs called Terraine 
Danien, extending along the shores, and a soft, white chalk 
with black flint, enclosing more than three hundred species 
of fossils, found in some parts of the peninsula. The charac- 



.LIMESTONES OF SCANDINAVIA. 1 7/ 

teristic limestone is the Faxoe, a yellow, coral rock full of 
Cretaceous fossils, the prevailing type being the Nautilus 
Daniscus. It was named for Faxoe Bay in the Island of 
Zealand, and forms the sea-cliffs at Stevensklint, on the 
eastern coast. It has been quarried to the depth of more 
than forty feet, and has been used for buildings at Faxoe ; a 
variety of this formation is polished for marble. Coral lime- 
stones are prominent among the rocks in the islands of Zea- 
land and Moen, enclosing many species of Corals, some of 
which are very rare. 

The Denmark limestones resemble the Chalk of England 
in their fossils ; while a Pisolitic limestone is similar to that of 
the Paris Basin. 

III. Scandinavia. — The Scandinavian Peninsula forms, 
geologically, one of the oldest portions of Europe, many of 
its rocks being Eozoic, and it constitutes one of the European 
zones of the earliest Silurian life ; it has even been claimed 
that the Eozoon exists in the rocks of Finland. Scandinavia 
is remarkable for its iron ores, which are interstratified with 
crystalline rocks, including granular limestones. 

The fundamental rock of Sweden is gneiss, but it yields 
also varieties of limestones, marbles, porphyries, serpentines, 
granites, and other building and ornamental stones. The 
Orthoceratite is one of the great representative limestones 
in Sweden, as it is in Russia, where it is called the Pleta, and 
is equivalent to the Lower Silurian Landeilo of Great Britain. 
A part of the Gothland limestones have been placed 'in the 
Upper and the remainder in the Lower Silurian. They are 
profusely charged with shells and corals similar to those of 
the Wenlock or Dudley limestones of England. 

The representative rock of Gothland is a limestone of this 
period, loaded with corals and other fossils, including the 
Favosite, Syringopora, Tentaculite, Terebratula, Orthis, and 
others. Some of the corals of the Gothland limestone are very 
beautiful ; among these are a delicate and exquisite species of 



1/8 LIMESTONES AND MARBLES. 

Madrepores, called the Porpital or '' Shirt-button," formed of 
perfectly pellucid calc spar, and the Madrepore truncata, a cal- 
careous, cup-shaped fossil, with a stellated surface, embedded 
in a blue limestone found only in Sweden. Another of the 
interesting Gothland corals is the Madrepore stellaris, with 
stars of numerous rays, sometimes as many as sixty, while the 
Madrepore undulata, resembling the Indian agate, semi-pel- 
lucid, and capable of a high polish, with colors varying from 
ash-gray to grayish black, forms a beautiful ornamental stone. 

The Upper Malmo group, including limestones, and named 
for the fortified seaport at the southern extremity of the 
Peninsula, corresponds in age to the Lower Helderberg of 
the Upper Silurian, 

Granular limestones are developed in the eastern part of 
Sweden, near Dannemora and Upsala. The latter city contains 
one of the most magnificent cathedrals in the country, and 
the most flourishing university of northern Europe. 

The Orthoceratite marbles of Sweden are well-known to 
commerce in the region of the Baltic ; they have been exten- 
sively quarried at Borghamm, near Lake Omberg, where thq 
limestone is seen for some distance in cliffs rising from four 
hundred to five hundred feet. 

Sweden develops porphyries and serpentines of rare beauty, 
and excellence as ornamental stones. The porphyries exhib- 
ited in Paris at the Exposition of 1878, included red, green, 
black, white, and gray varieties, while the collection of ser- 
pentines comprised many fine species, one being the Calcaire 
primitif, similar to the Eozoon Canadense ; but the most 
striking decorative stone was a conglomerate of a light brown 
paste, with fragments of different bright colors and sizes, and 
capable of receiving a high polish. 

The Silurian rocks of Norway include massive Coralline 
limestones enclosing the Wenlock fossils, and limestones 
charged with the Pentamerus oblongus, corresponding to the 
Woolhope, both of the Upper Silurian of Great Britain. The 
Pentamerus limestone of the southeastern part of Norway, 



LIMESTONES OF THE POLAR REGIONS. 1 79 

affords marbles, and the coast limestones contain mineral 
veins. See Appendix C. 

IV. Polar Regions. — The recent explorations of Norden- 
skiold, in the polar regions, have brought to light some interest- 
ing geological facts pertainmg to these inhospitable climes. 
Paleozoic, Jurassic, and Tertiary fossils were found on the 
Island of Spitzbergen, while those of the Carboniferous, 
Permian, and Jurassic were very abundant in some localities. 
Though gneiss, granite, and mica schist are predominant, yet 
calcareous rocks form a part of the strata, including a lime- 
stone with Productae and other fossils characteristic of the 
Carboniferous, a variety without fossils, and a grayish-white 
limestone superimposed by one thousand feet of massive 
rock " like a wall of basalt." 

By dredging, the sea-bottom was found to be covered with 
a fine sediment, consisting of comminuted shells of Polytha- 
lamia or Rhizopods, Diatoms, and Sponges. Some of these 
were brought up from a depth of eight thousand feet ; species 
of Annelids occurred at a depth of more than six thousand 
feet, — farther below the surface, it is said, than they were 
ever found before. The presence of coal leads to the conclu- 
sion that in former geological eras there existed a consider- 
able flora in the Arctic regions. 

Jurassic fossils were discovered at Nova Zembla, near the 
entrance to the Kara Sea, which is abundant in animal life. 
Fossils of the Upper Silurian type, similar to those of Goth- 
land, were found on Waygats Island, between Nova Zembla 
and the mainland. The Islands of New Siberia are rich in 
the remains of the Mammoth and other contemporary ani- 
mals. Limestones and magnesian schists are developed on 
the north coast of Asia, between the Lena River and Behring 
Strait, associated with a rock resembling gabbro. Slate, en- 
closing pyrites, constitutes the rock of Northeast Cape, the 
most northern land of the Eastern Hemisphere. 

Small particles of dust similar to that discovered in snow 



l80 LIMESTONES AND MARBLES. 

at Stockholro, in 1871, containing metallic iron, cobalt, nickel, 
phosphoric acid, and a colored, jelly-like, organic substance, 
were thought by Nordenskiold to be of cosmic origin. 

The red snow of the Polar lands, as well as that of the 
Alps, is colored by a microscopic plant, the Protococcus ni- 
valis ; and microscopic Crustacea mixed with snow, give out 
an intense, bluish-white light. One of the most remarkable 
phenomena of the Arctic regions is the halos, or Northern 
Lights, occasioned by ice crystals with which the air is filled. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

LIMESTONES OF THE SPANISH PENINSULA AND ITALY. 

I. Spam and Portugal. — Nearly all Spain consists of 
an elevated plateau from two thousand to three thousand 
feet above the level of the sea, traversed by several chains of 
lofty mountains, some with peaks nearly twelve thousand 
feet in height, the highest in Europe except the Alps. The 
longest of these chains, — its eastern portion called the Py- 
renees, its western the Cantabrian — connects the Mediter- 
ranean with the Atlantic, crossing the entire kingdom in the 
north, while other ranges reach the ocean through Portugal. 
The mountain systems of the two countries are thus, to a great 
extent, identical. 

In a region so mountainous as the Spanish Peninsula, 
where there occurs a large development of different rocks, 
a variety of limestones would naturally occur among other 
^rata. 

The Silurian formations are found in the Sierra Morena, 
where the principal rock is a soft, shelly limestone, and in the 
mountains of Toledo and Aragon, while Devonian rocks are 
met with in the Pyrenean cham, and the Carboniferous form 
the highest points of the Cantabrian range, where there is also 
a large development of the Mountain limestone. 

The Cretaceous group, represented by the Hippurite lime- 
stone, is scattered over different parts of the Peninsula, but 
here, as in other countries of southern Europe, the Nummulitic 
is the characteristic formation. 

Quaternary deposits, in the character of limestones and 
bone breccias, are found in the environs of Gibraltar. 

i8i 



1 82 LIMESTONES AND MARBLES. 

Dolomite or magnesian limestone is largely developed in 
the Peninsula, especially about Malaga, constituting the 
metalliferous beds of Carthage, and was employed for the 
buildings of Madrid and other Spanish cities. 

The Hippurite limestone has been quarried near Alcantara, 
and was probably used for the bridge across the Tagus at that 
place, which was constructed by the Emperor Trajan in the 
first century of the Christian era. 

Seville contains many remarkable structures, both ancient 
and modern, which have made the city one of the most dis- 
tinguished in the kingdom. The Romans built the famous 
aqueduct, resting on four hundred and ten arches, which still 
supplies the city with water ; the Moorish kings held their 
court here in the celebrated palace Alcaza ; and here was a* 
magnificent cathedral, the largest and richest in this country 
of splendid churches, with a lofty tower three hundred and 
thirty feet in height, surmounted by a bronze statue of Faith. 
Many of the buildings of Seville were constructed of Hippu- 
rite limestone, in which the fossils, especially in the stone- 
work of the Hospital de Sangre, are distinctly visible. The 
Moslems employed the native stones for their buildings, 
but foreign marbles were used in many of the Christian 
churches. 

The Hippurite formation of Lisbon affords a limestone of 
variable composition and texture, which furnishes beautiful 
marbles. A Cretaceous limestone similar to the Scaglia of 
Italy is called "jasper." 

The persistent Nummulitic limestone is found in the north, 
on the flanks of the Pyrenees, where it covers large areas and 
yields a compact, crystalline marble ; and in the south it 
forms a portion of the snow-capped Sierra Nevada. Girone, 
in the northeast, is built upon this hmestone, and in the en- 
virons of Tarragona, on the Mediterranean, a beautiful Nummu- 
litic marble is quarried, while the yellowish-gray marble of 
Gualchos, in Grenada, is filled with these fossils of large size, 
some specimens being more than one inch in diameter. 



Plate XIV. 




Verde Serpentino. 




Abmstromq k Co. Lith. Boston, 



SPANISH PENINSULA AND ITALY. 183 

The picturesque region of the Sierra Nevada is full of wild, 
romantic scenes, rendered doubly interesting by their histor- 
ical associations. The vast sierras of Andalusia, destitute of 
shrubs and trees, writes Irving, but enclosing fertile valleys, 
are mottled with variegated marbles and granites. The walled 
towns and villages are built, like eagles' nests, among the 
cliffs, surrounded by Moorish battlements, while the lofty 
*' Snow Mountains " are the haunts of banditti. 

In Grenada the Moors established a colony which became 
the centre of learning and the arts at a period v/hen ignorance 
and barbarism pervaded all the rest of Europe. Some of 
their architectural remains are wonderful for the extent and 
profusion of their ornamentation. To the antiquary and the 
romancist, those of the Alhambra, the palace erected by Alha- 
ma, are among the most interesting in Europe. This im- 
mense pile, built in the ornate Saracenic style, was richly 
decorated with costly and beautiful stones. The founder, 
who died in 1272, was buried in his new palace in a sepulchre 
constructed of rare marbles. 

Serpentine as well as marble was used by the Moors as a 
decorative stone, and that of which the Alhambra was built, 
obtained from the Sierra Nevada, is exceedingly beautiful, 
presenting a deep-green base, enclosing bright-green crystals 
of diallage. 

A great variety of limestones and dolomites are displayed 
throughout the valley of the Guadalquiver, and not in this 
valley only, but, to a greater or less extent, all over the 
Peninsula, which yield, in many instances, beautiful marbles. 

The city of Almeria, on the sea, rests upon Tertiary rocks, 
enclosed partly by limestone breccia, possibly of recent origin. 
A chain of hills near Bajados consists of crystalline dolomitic 
rocks ; Tarifa, with its lighthouse, is constructed of conglom- 
erate and limestone which extend along the coast to the 
Fortress of Gibraltar. 

Bone breccias, similar in character to those of other places, 
and enclosing the bones of the same species of animals, are 



lS4 LIMESTONES AND MARBLES. 

found at Gibraltar; they occur also at Nice, in Corsica, 
in Sardinia and Germany, and in Australia and the adjacent 
islands. 

The Rock of Gibraltar, from thirteen hundred to fourteen 
hundred feet in height, and three miles in length, is com- 
posed of breccia and a compact, bluish-gray limestone. The 
stalactites and stalagmites of St. Michael's Cave are capable 
of a high polish, and yield a rich marble. 

The limestones of the Spanish peninsula afford some varie- 
ties of marbles prized in ancient and modern times for their 
beauty and value for decorative purposes. That the yellow 
Spanish brocatello was well-known and appreciated by the 
Romans, is proved by its presence in the ruins of Italian cities. 
Portugal develops several species which have become articles 
of commerce. Among these the dove-colored Lisbon, valued 
for its delicacy and fine polish, is, perhaps, the best-known. 
Another variety found near Lisbon resembles the Siena of 
Italy ; the block presented by the late king, Don Pedro, for 
the mausoleum of the prince consort at Frogmore, England, 
is a species known as ** Emperor's Red." 

On the testimony of travellers, the marbles of Spain exist 
in greater variety and afford more beautiful specimens than 
those of any other country in Europe ; and though easily 
obtainable for commercial purposes they have been almost 
entirely neglected by the native Spaniards, who have even no 
knowledge of the existence of many of them. A large and 
beautiful collection of these desirable stones may be seen in 
the Cabinets at Madrid. 

II. Italy. — The great mountain chain branching off from 
the Maritime Alps, traversing Italy nearly its entire length, 
passing under the Straits of Messina and culminating in 
Mount Etna, at nearly eleven thousand feet, belongs to the 
youngest of the ranges, its formation having been completed 
after that of the Nummulitic beds. 

The rocks which constitute the principal part of the Apen- 
nines have been classed with the Mesozoic or Secondary 



SPANISH PENINSULA AND ITALY. 1 85 

systems, but on both sides of the range Tertiary strata form 
a Hne of low hills, called Sub-Apennines, including beds be- 
londno: to both the older and the newer members of the for- 
mation. 

It has been found difficult to determine the age of strata 
in Italy, especially limestones, in consequence of the deficiency 
or absence of fossils ; consequently geologists have been 
compelled to abandon their theories on the subject many 
times, and the absolute accuracy of even their most recent 
decisions is not unquestioned. 

It was once supposed there were no Paleozoic rocks in this 
country, but subsequent investigations have led to the conclu- 
sion that the most important formations belong to that era. 

The strata found in Italy have been arranged according to 
superposition, in three general classes ; the lowest consisting 
of limestones and schist, the middle of sandstones and impure, 
compact limestones, and the upper of marls, sands, and con- 
glomerates, with outlying strata of the Miocene and the Plio- 
cene epochs. This order is not universal, but is subject to 
frequent interruptions. 

A pebbly conglomerate called Verricano, a formation of 
considerable importance, was formerly regarded as the lowest 
or oldest known sedimentary rock. As it is unfossiliferous 
its true age is not easily decided, but it has been assigned -by 
•a recent Classification to the Permian period, making it 
younger than many of the marbles hitherto regarded as Juras- 
sic. 

The best known limestones of the Apennines, those yield- 
ing statuary marble, form parallel ridges along the Mediter- 
ranean coast in Tuscany and Emilia, and are now classed as 
Lower Carboniferous. Besides the white crystalline marble, 
they include the gray Bardiglio marble, dolomites, and Cip- 
polino or a micaceous limestone. In Tuscany some of the 
schists are thought to be pre-Silurian. 

The Apuan Alps, named for the Apuani, an ancient peo- 
ple of Liguria, are largely calcareous. Here are found 



1 86 LIMESTONES AND MARBLES. 

dolomites, red limestone, and statuary and ornamental mar- 
bles ; nearly all these varieties are displayed at the promon- 
tory forming the eastern side of the Gulf of Spezia. This 
body of water, affording one of the best harbors in Europe, 
and constituting an important naval station, occupies a very 
deep trough formed of macigno, limestones, and marbles 
identical with those of the elevated strata on either bank. 
The fossils at Spezia, including the Ammonite, character- 
istic of Mesozoic rocks, are enclosed in red and gray limestones 
superimposed by macigno. 

The Red Ammonite limestone, the Ammonitico rosso of 
the Italian geologists, has shared the variable fortunes of the 
Carrara marbles, both formations having been assigned to 
many different places in the geological succession ; it has at 
last found a resting-place in the Middle Lias. The for- 
mation, which has its equivalent in the Swiss Jura, is, in 
some beds, made up to a great extent of the remains of the 
Ammonite. 

The Tertiary occupies a large area in Italy, covering the 
hilly regions of Lucca, Parma, and Genoa, with limestones 
and macigno corresponding in age to the flysch of the Alps, 
and associated with fresh-water deposits. In Piedmont and 
Tuscany the formation is said to yield coal, which, at Monte 
Massi, is in places five feet deep. The rock composing 
this elevation, constituting the foundation for the village of 
Massi, is a serpentine breccia. The group of hills east of 
Turin consists of strata closely resembling the Miocene com- 
posing the Hill Superga, a high eminence in that city. 

From the imperfect condition of fossils it has not been 
easy to draw the line separating the Jurassic from the Creta- 
ceous strata, and for this reason the Biancone, a formation 
similar to, if not identical with, the Majolica of Milan has 
been classed v/ith both. It is nearly everywhere destitute of 
fossils, but the rare instances in which they occur ally it, in 
the opinion of Murchison, to the Cretaceous. 

The Biancone is generally a white, compact limestone or 



SPANISH PENINSULA AND ITALY. 1 8/ 

marble, with very delicate, blackish veins, and a lustre which 
renders it conspicuous at a great distance. The Biancone or 
]\Iajolica marble at Graviate, north of Lake Verese, is very 
white and of even fracture ; in other localities it is often of a 
yellowish tint, like the Alberese of Tuscany, and sometimes 
it is greenish shaded with red and yellow. 

The basin of the small Lake D'Eseo, one thousand feet 
deep, was excavated in calcareous strata, including Xummu- 
litic, Hippurite, Red Ammonite, and Biancone limestones. 

The Venetian Alps yield Cretaceous rocks and others of, 
less doubtful age, including Xeocomian and Hippurite lime- 
stones, and the Scaglia, the equivalent of chalk. The latter 
is a red argillaceous limestone, with conchoidal fracture, often 
enclosing Fucoids, which give the rock a whitish appearance. 

A red limestone of Venetia is similar to the Inoceramus 
limestone of the ]Mythen, in Schwytz, which is Cretaceous. 
The Neocomian, or Lower Cretaceous, is not well represented 
in the north of Italy ; in Tuscany it appears as a compact, 
cream-colored limestone, forming, in the southern part, ridges 
of considerable length, constituting the principal mountains 
in the valleys of L^mbria, the Sabine IMountains, and the Vol- 
scian Hills, reaching to Naples. It includes Hippurite lime- 
stone covered by the Nummulitic and macigno formations. 

The mountains about Subiaco, where St. Bernard estab- 
lished his famous monastery, are composed of Cretaceous 
limestones. The Hippurite of this period forms the sea-walls 
of the promontory of Gaeta, on the ]Mediterranean, and of 
Monte Gargano, on the Adriatic, and associated with the 
Nummulitic limestone, extends along the coast of the latter 
sea. The Nummulitic limestone is coarse and white, the 
Hippurite hard and compact. Donati discovered, at the bot- 
tom of the Adriatic, a bed of shells one hundred feet thick, 
which, in places, had been converted into marble. 

These two formations, combined with grav Scaglia, and 
representing the Tertiary and the Cretaceous, form important 
strata in the Sub-Apennines of Latium, formerly the Roman 



1 88 LIMESTONES AND MARBLES. 

States. The summits of the hills are frequently covered with 
Nummulitic capped by macigno, as in the Alps it is capped by 
flysch. The Hippurite affords the marble called Occhio di 
Pavone, " Peacock's Eye." 

The most elevated Jurassic summits on the western side of 
the Apennines are covered with the Cretaceous or the Ter- 
tiary limestones. The lowest strata, in the promontory at 
Sorrento, south of the Bay of Naples, considered Jurassic, are 
of great thickness. The Cottanello marble of Latium, and 
a conglomerate called the Breccia di Simone, named for the 
Sassi di Simone, a lofty range of mountains east of Tuscany, 
are considered the representatives of the Ammonitico rosso, of 
the Jurassic period. A red limestone at Cesi, near Terni, 
resting on one hundred feet of gray limestone, is thought to 
have the characteristics of the red limestone of the Venetian 
Alps and Spezia ; all probably belong to the same formation. 
On account of its fossils the limestone of Cesi is a valuable 
landmark. 

The mountains between the Maremma and Siena, in Tus- 
cany, are composed of white, yellow, and red marbles with no 
traces of fossils, resting under the Scaglia, with which they 
form a group scattered along the ridges of the Apennines 
towards the south. Ammonites are found in the limestones 
east of Assisi, in the mountains east of Perugia, and in the 
red marble of Monte Malbe, west of the city ; their presence 
proves these regions to be, in part at least, Jurassic or CrC; 
taceous. 

Some of the terms applied to formations peculiar to Italy 
require explanation. Alberese, used in a general way, desig- 
nates all light-colored limestones associated with macigno ; in 
a restricted sense, it means a marly limestone, which forms 
one of the characteristic rocks of Tuscany. 

Macigno, which is largely employed for a building-stone in 
central Italy, is a bluish-gray sandstone, sometimes weathering 
to yellow or ash-color, composed of grains of quartz and mica 
cemented by calcareous clay. The rock is known by several 



SPANISH PENINSULA AND ITALY. 1 89 

local names, >as, Pietra-serena and Pietra-f orte at Florence, and 
Pietra-morte in the environs of Pisa. It is very abundant in 
the valleys of the Arno and the Tiber, and forms the eastern 
shores of Lake Thrasymene, memorable for the defeat of the 
Roman Consul Flaminius,_ by Hannibal. Murchison says it 
resembles the Upper Silurian rock of Ludlow, Wales, where 
Caractacus made his last stand against the Romans. The 
macigno, like the flysch of the Alps, is frequently associated 
with Nummulitic limestone. 

Panchina, used for buildings, is a sandy, shell limestone of 
variable character, sometimes compact, at other times tufa- 
ceous. It is most fully developed near the seashore, and is 
well represented about Civita Vecchia. 

Cretone of Alduini, employed for the manufacture of faience 
ware, is a soft, pulverulent limestone found in the valley of 
the Adige. 

To the dolomites and lacustrine limestones, forming a part 
of the calcareous strata of Italy, is due much of the variety of 
the lovely scenery of this country. The picturesque promon- 
tory of Bellagio, at Lake Como, the delight of tourists, consists 
of dolomite; that of Miemo receives the name of Miemite. 

The Hill of Superga, in Turin, between two thousand and 
three thousand feet in height, crowned with a royal church 
for sepulture, affords, from its summit, magnificent views 
of the Alps and the surrounding country. The victory of the 
Italians over the French, gained here in the early part of the 
eighteenth century, gives it a national interest. Besides its 
picturesque beauty and its historical celebrity, the hill is of 
importance to the geologist for its Tertiary deposits, including 
a great series of strata with some Nummulitic limestone. 

In the low valleys about Volterra, in Tuscany, the soil is 
composed of argillaceous earth and limestones, enclosing 
different soluble salts and hydrogenous substances, and when 
the vegetable matter is in a state of decomposition, induced by 
the summer and autumn rains, it engenders the malaria so 
fatal to the inhabitants of that region. It is in this vicinity 



190 LIMESTONES AND MARBLES. 

that some of the beautiful marbles and the chalcedony em- 
ployed in art are found. The marble has become an article 
of commerce, and is imported by all dealers in this kind of 
merchandise. 

Rome, one of the oldest of European cities, occupies a basin 
of Tertiary and volcanic deposits, enclosing the remains of 
quadrupeds. The most ancient beds, found north and west of 
St. Peter's and the Vatican, consist of blue, slielly marls and 
clay with calcareous sandstones, while the Campagna is made 
up of tuffs, peperino, and volcanic rocks, seen in the hills of 
Rome and at the Villa Borghese. 

For proficiency in works of art Italy ranks next to Greece 
among European nations, as her paintings, statues, and 
architectural remains, ancient and medieval, bear witness. 
Under the Empire, the Romans had access to the rich 
stores of mineral wealth found among the subjugated nations, 
and in later times they developed tlie abundant resources of 
their native country, which, in turn, has supplied material for 
the art productions of other races. 

The limestones of Italy are remarkable for their beautiful 
and valuable marbles so well-known in commerce. A black 
marble has been extensively quarried at Vicenza, the native 
place of the architect Andrea Palladio, of the sixteenth 
century, which contains many palaces of his construction ; 
and a similar marble occurs at Lake Como and at Varenna. 
The latter has been cut through for the celebrated galleries of 
the Stelvio passage, nine thousand feet above sea-level; it is 
called the highest carriage-road in Europe, and one of the 
most remarkable, owing to the difficulties to be overcome in 
its construction. 

A variegated red, black, and smoke-colored limestone is 
known by the name of Marmo di Varenna ; the black marble of 
Bergamo, on account of its excellent polish, receives the name 
of "paragonc," and another variety is called Panno di Morti, 
"robe of death." The Polvcroso or "powdered marble" of 
Pistoia has the appearance of being covered with fine dust, 



SPANISH PENINSULA AND ITALY. JQI 

and a similar kind, identical, it may be, is seen in some of the 
sculptured animals of the Vatican Museum. A white marble 
with black spots, from Lake Maggiore, has been used in the 
buildings of northern Italy. It is thought the Polsevera green 
marble was named for a mountain or a small river near 
Genoa. 

A breccia found in the region was used in most of the 
ancient buildings of Aosta, the Augusta ProDtoria, situated at 
the foot of the Pennine Alps. The remains of the Roman 
town are still to be seen, especially the triumphal Arch of 
Augustus. 

The marble of Verona has been, probably, the kind most 
extensively used in the northern provinces, both by the ancient 
Romans and their successors. It is obtained from the Num- 
mulitic limestone, and affords two varieties, orange combined 
with red inclining to yellow, of which, it is said, the tomb of 
Petrarch was made ; and white, v/ith light-yellow and reddish 
tints, employed by the Romans. A brecciated variety was 
used for the porch and interior columns of the Cathedral of 
Verona, and for the double row of columns supporting the 
arches of the cloisters. 

Verona, the Roman Veronensis, became under the Empire, 
one of the most important cities of northern Italy, and was 
embellished by architectural works, some of whose ruins still 
exist, proving the magnificence of the buildings of that era. 
The Verona marble was used in the Amphitheatre supposed 
to be constructed by the Emperor Diocletian, in the third 
century ; it has been well preserved, and the fossil sliclls of 
the Nummulite maybe distinctly seen in some of the blocks. 

This marble was much used for buildings of the mediaeval 
age, and is specially noticeable in the numerous churches and 
other public edifices of Venice, the "city of palaces," of which 
the columns and arches of the two colonnades on the south side 
of the Doge's Palace, the portal of St. Mark's, the Campanile, 
and the Academy of Fine Arts, are a few of the many examples. 

The Cathedral of Milan, that architectural miracle which 



192 LIMESTONES AND MARBLES. 

seems like the work of the Divine Master, is of white marble, 
the only appropriate material for a building so ethereal in 
aspect, and so pure, noble, and elevating in influence. 

The marble is saccharoidal, not perfectly white, but clouded 
with so delicate a purple that at a short distance it has the 
appearance of pure white. The stone was taken from a quarry 
near Lake Como, or, as some say. Mount Candido, in the 
Tyrol. 

The well-known Giallo di Siena, or Yellow of Siena, is not 
obtained from that city, but from a place near Volterra ; its 
color is variable, passing from cream-yellow to an Indian 
yellow, traversed by white veins ; and sometimes it forms a 
breccia with dark-red or purple cement. A yellow marble 
veined with black and a variety of white veined with gray are 
found near Siena ; the latter was used in the public buildings 
of the city, and, it is said, for the Cathedral of Florence. 
A limestone ridge near the Siena quarries furnishes a rose- 
red marble, and in the same neighborhood limestones are 
developed with Ammonites and Belemnites, which circum- 
stance indicates that they are Secondary, and may be Jurassic 
or Cretaceous. 

The Porta Santa marble, near Caldana, is of a delicate peach- 
blossom color, but is neither durable nor highly esteemed, 
therefore it cannot be identical with the antique Porta Santa, 
which is both durable and highly valued. 

Not far from Spezia is quarried the Porto Venere marble, 
or the *' Black and Gold " of commerce. It has been referred 
to the Lias, but one cannot be sure of the age of Italian lime- 
stones. The ground is a beautiful black, crossed by yellow 
and white veins of dolomite. 

The Monte Pisani, a range of hills, east of Pisa, yielded the 
white marble for the Cathedral, the Leaning Tower, and the 
Baptistery of that city. 

The most celebrated marbles of Italy are the white statuary 
marbles of Carrara, Massa, and Serravezza, about four miles 
from the coast, in the province of Emilia, a part of ancient 



SPANISH PENINSULA AND ITALY. 1 93 

Liguria. The range of the Apennines in this region is very 
picturesque, offering a serried outline, writes Jervis, of pale, 
crystalline limestone and schist, rising to an elevation of from 
four thousand to five thousand feet, and intersected by deep 
gorges. The outposts of these bald mountains are ranges of 
hills covered to their summits with olive orchards, vineyards, 
and trees. 

The age of the marble has been changed by geologists 
several times : it was at first considered primitive, then 
secondary, and after occupying several different positions in 
the chronological scale, it has at last fallen from the Jurassic 
to the Carboniferous. 

Carrara marble was used by the Romans to adorn the 
imperial capital, though not to any extent before the estab- 
lishment of the Empire. The mines seem inexhaustible, being 
scattered over several square miles, and numbering many 
hundreds in all ; but only comparatively very few of the 
statuary marble quarries are constantly worked. 

The white marble is admirably adapted to sculpture, and 
though held in less esteem than the antique Parian and 
Pentelic, it has furnished material for some of the noblest 
creations of modern plastic art. Raphael, Michael Angelo, 
Canova, and other eminent sculptors, used this marble for 
their immortal works. The stone is flawed by the presence 
of foreign substances, so that it is sometimes difficult to obtain 
a perfect block. The quarry of Polvaccio is celebrated for 
the immense blocks quarried from it for M. Angelo's colossal 
statues. 

These marbles are of four varieties : the translucent white 
statuary, the veined white, the Bardiglio, and the Ravaccione, 
which is less known. The Bardiglio is of very fine grain, 
grayish or bluish-white, crossed by dark veins, and receives 
different names according to the clouds or the tone of color, 
as Fiorito, Scuro, etc. 

Above the Bardiglio rests the Mischio di Serravezza, or 
simply Mischio, signifying mingled. It is a hard breccia of 



194' LIMESTONES AND MARBLES. 

marble fragments, cemented by amphibole or specular iron ; 
the cement, when ferruginous, colors the white portions pink. 
This marble presents an endless variety of tints and patterns, 
hardly any two blocks being alike, receives a good polish and 
is very showy, suitable only for the decoration of large 
interiors. It has been used to cover the walls of one of the 
rooms of the Pitti Palace, Florence. 

A white, saccharoidal marble, crossed with delicate veins, 
lies above the Mischio. Some of the Serravezza beds, with 
white ground and purple veins, are called Africano, but the 
most important variety is a white marble, of a slightly yellow 
tint, which is thought to riv^al the Carrara ; it is largely 
developed in Monte Altissimo, a peak more than five thousand 
feet in height. 

A variety of ornamental stones, under the names of serpen- 
tine and gabbro, are abundant in some parts of Italy, more 
especially in Tuscany and Piedmont. The term gabbro has 
a broad signification, being applied to several species of rocks ; 
it is not properly a serpentine, but sometimes passes into it. 
Von Cotta designates that rock gabbro which consists of labra- 
dorite or saussurite, enclosing green diallage or smaragdite, 
hypersthene, and some other minerals, and marked by great 
diversity of composition and texture. 

The Italian gabbro is a serpentine, with diallage and some 
other substances, is generally massive, and from the nature 
of its constituents forms a beautiful ornamental stone. The 
distinctions cannot always be drawn between serpentine and 
gabbro, as they appear in art, nor is this necessary. Both 
often pass into euphotides, presenting a great variety of colors 
and of combinations, and receive different names determined 
by these combinations, as gabbro rosso, gabbro diaspro, gabbro 
galestro, and serpentine amalgam. The different colors are 
red, green, purple, and yellow ; and when brought in contact 
with granite they are gold color, pearl-white, or bluish-gray. 
The gabbro rosso is considered a modification of macigno 
united with serpentine. 



SPANISH PENINSULA AND ITALY. I95 

The mountains of Tuscany develop a variety of rocks and 
minerals, embracing serpentines, gabbro, verde antique, gran- 
ites resembling the serpentines of Elba, and ophite or green 
antique porphyry, sometimes called prosopyre. The serpen- 
tine mass called Gabbro impruneta, near Florence, consists 
of euphotide, feldspar, and some other minerals. The Verde 
di Pegli, so-called from Pegli on the Mediterranean coast, a 
few miles west of Genoa, is a serpentine breccia cemented by 
a light green calc spar. The Verde di Prato is a serpentine 
obtained from IMonteferrato, three miles from Prato, and has 
been extensively used in Tuscany for architectural decorations, 
examples of which are seen in the exterior of the Cathedral 
and Baptistery of Florence. 

A very hard serpentine, of a clear green color, is found in 
Piedmont. In the mountains of San Michel, the serpentines 
enclose brown diallage disseminated in the cement, forming 
the gabbro of the Italian geologists, and corresponding to the 
Ophiolite of the French scientist, Brongniart. The moun- 
tains formed of these rocks have a red or yellowish tint, and 
their sterility is due to an excess of niagnesia. 

Travertine forms large calcareous deposits, and is more 
compact than the calc tufa of springs ; those of Tivoli and 
Terni are best known. The town of Ascoli, ancient Asculum, 
considered one of the best-built cities of Italy, was constructed 
of travertine, which is very abundant in this place. The beds 
extend to Civitella, not far from Subiaco, a considerable dis- 
tance from Ascoli, and possess the same character as those 
of Tivoli. The hot springs of San Filippo, on Monte Amiata, 
Tuscany, have deposited an entire hill of snow-white calca- 
reous sinter. The water of these springs, charged with lime, 
in its course down this descent, has been employed in making 
bas-reliefs by a natural process, by placing moulds of any 
required pattern in contact with the water which, in a short 
time, produces beautiful sculptures. 

If we may judge from architectural ruins, the ancients 
regarded travertine, called by them tiburtine, as an excellent 



196 LIMESTONES AND MARBLES. 

building-stone. The walls and temples of Paestum, the 
ancient Posidonia, a Greek city famed for its temples, now 
forming some of the most magnificent ruins of antiquity, were 
built of travertine. The Doric Temple of Neptune, the best 
preserved ruin in Italy, is a magnificent example of that order 
of architecture. 

The gypsum of Italy is generally very pure. The agate 
gypsum or alabaster of Volterra is a fine variety resembling 
white wax, though red, yellowish, and mottled varieties also 
occur. Sculpturing in alabaster is extensively carried on in 
Italy, an art which dates from ancient Etruscan times, when 
it was the custom to preserve the remains of distinguished 
citizens in sarcophagi of alabaster, formed of a single block 
with elaborate sculptured ornaments and a reclining figure of 
the deceased. , 

The Temple of Jupiter Serapis at Pozzuoli, near Naples, 
gives an interesting illustration of the alternate subsidence 
and elevation of the land at that place. The roof of this tem- 
ple was supported by twenty-four granite and twenty-two 
marble columns, each formed of a single stone ; three of these 
columns, of Cipollino marble, are standing, and are forty-two 
feet in height. The borings of the Lithodomi began twelve 
feet from the ground, and extended nine feet. The changes oc- 
curring in the foundations of this structure are supposed 
to be the following : The temple was built at or near the level 
of the sea ; the ground afterwards subsided, and the sea- 
water, mixed with the water of the hot spring,, still near the 
ruins, formed a lake of brackish water in the area of the 
temple, on which an incrustation began ; it was then filled to 
the depth of several feet with ashes, tufa, and sand, and the 
walls and columns were covered with a coating of lime depos- 
ited by the waters of the hot spring. The area continued 
to subside until they were buried twelve feet below sea- 
level, causing the water to flow in, flooding the temple to the 
height of nine feet, when the marine borers attaching them- 
selves to the columns perforated them. The foundations, 



SPANISH PENINSULA AND ITALY. IQ/ 

after a period of time began to rise, and continued this 
movement until they regained their original level. 

Italy, like many other countries, has its mine of fossil 
wealth in Monte Bolca not far from Verona, in the province 
of Venice, where more than one hundred species of fossil 
fishes were embedded in the strata. Agassiz described one 
hundred and thirty-three species included in seventy-five 
genera, twenty of them being peculiar to this locality, all 
found in the Eocene strata. The summit of the hill is covered 
with basalt, but the principal beds are com^posed of argilla- 
ceous and calcareous strata, including a cream-colored, fissile 
limestone, abounding in fish in an excellent state of preserva- 
tion, and of a brown color, contrasting agreeably with the hue 
of the rock. Shoals of fishes of Eocene date are supposed to 
have been destroyed in a series of submarine volcanic erup- 
tions. 

Lyell, who refers to this theory of Murchison, does not ac- 
count for the formation of the Monte Bolca limestone, or 
explain how the fishes, en masse, became embedded in it ; but 
another writer suggests that the lim.estone was erupted into 
the ocean in a fluid state, and the fish were enveloped in the 
calcareous mass. 

Like Greece and Turkey, Italy has its islands yielding 
valuable building and ornamental stones. The limestones of 
Sicily, in the vicinity of Catania, are full of fossils ; those of 
Iblea are more ancient than many in continental Italy, while 
others are of recent formation. 

The lofty table-land of Sicily, three thousand feet above the 
sea, is capped by limestones of recent date, containing from 
seventy to eighty-five per cent, of fossils. The limestone was 
used by the Greeks, who colonized the island, for the ancient 
temples of Girgenti and Syracuse, whose ruins carry us back 
to a remote era in human history. Syracuse, on the eastern 
coast, now partly in ruins, was founded B. C. 734, and was at 
one time one of the most strongly fortified cities of antiquity, 
as was proved at the siege by the Athenians. There were 



198 LIMESTONES AND MARBLES. 

several quarries in Syracuse whence the stone was taken for 
the construction of the city, and during the siege they were 
used as prisons in which to confine Athenian captives. Por- 
tions of the Girgenti limestone of Sicily, from seven hundred 
to eight hundred feet thick, resemble the Calcaire grossier 
of the Paris Basin, and in other localities it is a compact 
marble. Girgenti, the ancient Agrigentum, on the south 
side of the island, built of this limestone, was considered one 
of the most splendid cities of former times ; its gigantic 
remains, conspicjLious among them the Temple of Jupiter 
Olympus, are still to be seen. 

The low hills rising two hundred feet behind Palermo con- 
sist mainly of coarse limestones enclosing shells in admirable 
perfection, often preserving their natural markings and pohsh, 
which belong to species not found in the existing seas. The 
elegant and picturesque manner in which they are grouped 
render them objects of peculiar interest and beauty. 

At Cape Passaro, white crystalline limestone rests upon 
ancient volcanic rocks ; some of the beds contain Hippurites, 
Cretaceous, others are almost entirely made up of Alveolites, 
a radiate found in the Silurian, and Nummulites, — Tertiary. 

Some of the volcanic tufas of Sicily enclose shells, preserv- 
ing their natural colors, similar to those found in the neigh- 
boring seas. The Madrepore Isis is very abundant in the 
Sicilian rocks. 

Sardinia yields Nummulitic and Hippurite limestones afford- 
ing marbles, and the islands of Elba, Gorgona, and Giglio, on the 
coast of Tuscany, contain serpentines, granites, and limestones. 
The gabbro rosso, or the serpentine of Elba, is penetrated 
in various directions, by granite, and is intersected by a net- 
work of small veins of hydrophane, opal, and other substances, 
and sometimes veins of copper, the combination forming a 
beautiful ornamental stone. Some of the limestones of Elba 
have been changed into marble. 

This island was celebrated for its iron mines in the time of 
Aristotle, B, C. 384, and of Strabo, in the first century before 



Plate XV. 




GlALLO AnTICO. 




Algerian Onyx. 



ArMITROKS k Co. I.ITB. BOITON. 



SPANISH PENINSULA AND ITALY. 1 99 

the Christian era ; it is mentioned by Virgil under the name 
of Ilva. The granites of Elba and Giglio were employed by 
the ancient Romans, and are now seen in many of the antique 
monuments of Rome. 

Gabbro occupies a prominent place in the rocks of Corsica. 
Serpentine with diallage — gabbro — is rare, but .there is an 
abundance with asbestos. What is called Verde di Corsica 
contains euphotide, diallage, and often smaragdite, a combina- 
tion which forms the gabbro of Von Cotta. 

Napoleonite, called also granite, porphyry, and orbicular 
diorite, is a rare and beautiful stone found near Sautina and 
Ajaccio, in this island. Its mineral constituents are anor- 
thite, greenish hornblende, and quartz, forming concentric 
layers arranged about a nucleus. Some of the orbs of alter- 
nate light and dark colors are from one to three inches in 
diameter. Corsica, Sardinia, and Malta develop a Hmestone 
sometimes called the Mediterranean. The Corsica limestones 
include a crystalline nearly saccharoidal, a white variety, veined 
with talc, resembling Cippolino marble, and a Nummulitic 
sim_:lar to that of the Basses Alps. 

Malta, whose proximity to Italy classes it geologically with 
that country, yields fossiliferous and semi-crystalline lime- 
stones of light colors, hard and compact, adapted for construc- 
tion. Of the Tertiary formations, writes T. Fuchs, the upper 
group corresponds to the Leitha limestone of the Vienna 
Basin, the lower to deposits found in Italy, France, Bavaria, 
and Austria. The Malta stone, resembling the Leitha, is 
very fossiliferous, and has been eroded by atmospheric agen- 
cies ; the fossils are identical with those of the Vienna Basin. 
The beds resting beneath this formation enclose Orbitoides 
of a very large size, measuring, sometimes, four inches in 
diameter, and form a hard, compact rock. What are called 
the " Pecten Beds " afford the principal building-stone of the 
island. 

Many of the Italian marbles are antique, and are described 
with " Antique Stones ; " others are both ancient and modern ; 



200 LIMESTONES AND MARBLES. 

while a third class is known, so far as we have any authentic 
history, only to the commerce of more recent times. These 
marbles present a great variety of colors, but the red and the 
yellow, either variegated or unicolored, are most abundant. 
A mixture of green serpentine and light-colored marble, devel- 
oped in Genoa and Tuscany, passes under the name of Verde 
antique. A marble of Bergamo (black, ash-white, flesh-red, 
and bright red), the Green of Prato, and the Ponsevere de 
Genova, are much used for decoration. 

The granular marbles, classed under the general name of 
Carrara, though they are found in other places in that region, 
receive different commercial names, according to locality or 
color. 

The best statuary marble is found at Monte Crestola and 
Monte Sagro, Carrara ; other varieties, distinguished by their 
colors, are black, violet, red, yellow, and green. Several 
varieties of breccias may be added to the list of calcareous 
rocks, found in this region. 

For a list of Italian marbles, see Appendix C. 



CHAPTER XV. 

LIMESTONES OF GREECE. — GREEK ART. 

Elie de Beaumont regarded the Olympian system of 
mountains in Greece the oldest in Europe, but the most 
widely-diffused calcareous rocks belong to the Tertiary and 
Cretaceous periods. A great variety of limestones, which 
yielded some of the most celebrated marbles of antiquity, are 
developed in the different mountain ranges traversing every 
division and island of this small but interesting country. 

The northern part of the Morea, the ancient Peloponnesus, 
is composed of a calcareous conglomerate, forming white, 
black, blue, yellow, smoke-gray, and wine-colored limestones, 
enclosing jasper, quartz, and some other minerals. The for- 
mation has a wide distribution, being found in the Island of 
Spezzia in the Gulf of Argos, alternating with soft, marly 
limestones, and in the Peninsula of Kranidi, the southern 
part of ancient Argolis, extending to the plains of Argos, 
where it constitutes the foot-hills of the mountains of Mycene, 
now Karvata, famous in ancient Greece, and interesting to the 
antiquary for its modern excavations. These conglomerate 
limestones predominate on the northeastern slope of the 
mountains which border the Gulf of Corinth, and surround 
the plains of Nemea, in Argolis ; they appear at an elevation 
of four thousand five hundred feet, forming the high plateau 
of the Island of ^gina ; they constitute the highest elevation 
in the Peloponnesus, Mount Cyllene, in Arcadia, sacred to 
Mercury, and form the northern slope of the mountains of 
Achaia. 

201 



202 LIMESTONES AND MARBLES. 

Besides this conglomerate formation, the upper layers of 
the Tertiary afford another series of general distribution and 
economic value, furnishing all Greece with an excellent build- 
ing-stone called Pierre Poros, also its ancient name, of fine 
grain, with very few fossils, the homogeneous upper beds 
forming the Poros marble. The series constitutes the Isthmus 
of Corinth and Megaris, where it acquires great thickness ; it 
forms elevated patches at Platsea and Eleusis ; it is found in 
the Island of ^gina ; in the Peninsula of Argolis as far as 
Nauplia on the gulf ; at the sources of the Eurotas in Laconia ; 
on the western declivity of the wild mountain range of Tay- 
getus, where the formation yields white, green, and rose- 
colored limestones, and in the valley of the Alphaeus, extend- 
ing to the borders of Elis. 

The Tertiary system is represented on the plains of Thebes 
by a compact, shell limestone, and a brown Hippurite lime- 
stone of Cretaceous age, abounding in caverns, occurs in the 
same region. 

What is called the Alpine limestone of southern Europe, 
has its representative in Greece, in the character of a white 
or grayish shell limestone, lying in a horizontal position and 
occupying a surface of great extent. 

From the base of the chain of the Citheron, between At- 
tica and Boeotia, to the hills of Thebes, the soil is composed 
of reddish-gray marls, with soft concretionary limestone, ser- 
pentine, and diorite ; on the route from Thebes to Chalcis, 
in Euboea, the prominent rocks are a pudding-stone, and hard, 
friable, yellow varieties of Hmestone, forming elevated moun- 
tains. The plains of Marathon afford marly limestones and 
conglomerates, while the surrounding hills consist of yellow- 
ish, granular limestone of the Tertiary, and calcareous pudding- 
stone. From Marathon to the valley of the Cephissus, 
pudding-stones, marls, and compact limestones make a part 
of the system of rocks. 

Mount Parnassus, the favorite seat of Apollo and the Muses, 
with its woody flanks and snow-covered summits, its numerous 



LIMESTONES OF GREECE. 203 

caverns and deep ravines, is represented as composed princi- 
pally of limestones, including various kinds : as lithographic, 
marly, Encrinital, of a smoke-gray color, and a greenish-gray 
limestone from which flows the Castalian Fountain at the 
foot of Lycorea, the most southern of the two peaks of 
Parnassus. 

The summit consists of reddish, yellowish, or violet lime- 
stone, enclosing organic remains, called by the inhabitants 
*' Ox-horns," considered Ammonites by earlier geologists, but 
which, it is claimed, more recent investigations prove to be 
Hippurites, a fossil characteristic of the Cretaceous period, 
and constituting the entire shells south of Chaeronea, in Boeotia, 
showing the predominance of the chalk formation in this 
region. 

Red and black marbles, resembling those of Belgium, are 
found in the vicinity of Parnassus, and above an ancient 
chateau of the city of Levadia, southeast of the mountain, 
there occurs a deep-black limestone veined with white calca- 
reous spar. A black, crystalline limestone, extending from 
the foot of Mount Helicon, consecrated also to Apollo and 
the Muses, with its sacred fountains and grove, forms the 
basin of Lake Copais or Cephissus. 

For shell limestones the Nummulitic and the Hippurite 
are the most conspicuous throughout Greece. Many of the 
sedimentary limestones are changed into crystalline rocks, and 
frequently into granular marble. 

According to D'Archiac, Attica may be divided, litho- 
logically, into a western and an eastern part, by a line passing 
through the Piraeus. The rocks of the western division are 
but little metamorphosed, consisting of a thick macigno like 
that of Tuscany, covered with wine-red schist, gray limestone, 
and sandstone overlaid by one thousand two hundred or one 
thousand five hundred feet of Hippurite limestone, all the 
series supposed to be Cretaceous, forming mountains of con- 
siderable height. On the eastern side of the line the beds 
are crystalline, including the marbles of Hymettus and 



204 LIMESTONES AND MARBLES. 

Pentelicus of the Chalk era. A blue and gray compact lime- 
stone, passing into a ferruginous breccia, forms the Lycabettus, 
and a white or clear-gray, saccharoidal limestone, the Hymettus 
marble ; the former is obtained from Mount Lycabettus, close 
to the walls of Athens on the northeast, the latter from Mount 
Hymettus, three miles south of the city. Between Athens 
and the Piraeus, now Porto Dracone, horizontal strata of con- 
glomerates and yellow limestone occur, and to the south of 
the city lumachelles are quarried for building-stone. 

At the base of Mount Pentelicus, northeast of Athens, lies 
a mass of white marble superimposed by a variety with 
lustrous green schists, which, in ascending the mountain, is 
continually met with, preserving its green zones throughout 
the entire formation ; the color is varied towards the top, by 
light, wavy bands of reddish or yellowish tints. It was above 
these layers the immense quarries were dug which yielded 
the valuable antique marble called Pentelic. The beds extend 
from northeast to southwest in a great vein between masses 
of compact, gray limestone. 

This celebrated marble has been considered by some geol- 
ogists contemporary with the limestones of Mount Taygetus, 
the Tertiary, but Beaumont places it in the Lower Cretaceous. 
The variety of marbles found at Mount Pentelicus explains 
the difference between specimens of what is called Pentelic 
marble, in the Vatican Museum. The statuary marble has a 
dazzling whiteness and exceedingly fine grain, differing en- 
tirely from the Hymettus, which is coarse and veined with 
purple. 

The ancient Greeks used for architectural decorations blue 
and black marbles found at Eleusis, and a yellow marble from 
Corinth. The Lacedemonian stone of Pliny was employed 
both in Greece and Italy from ancient times ; it is composed of 
dark-green feldspathic base with embedded light-green crystals 
of feldspar and augite, containing grains of ferro-titanite. It is 
called by Corsi a Serpentine porphyry, and is used for pave- 
ments and inlaid work in Italian churches. 



LIMESTONES OF GREECE. 205 

The celebrated Verde antique, described with *' Antique 
Marbles," is a serpentine enclosing other minerals, found in 
Greece, where it was introduced as an ornament in buildings, 
and was used in the famous luxurious baths of Corinth. A 
similar stone, occurring in France, has been called mela- 
phyre. 

It has been asserted that the Rosso antico is a Greek marble 
whose quarries were lost sight of for centuries, but recently 
brought to light by discoveries made at Cynopolis, Damaris- 
tica, and Lageia. 

Islands of Greece. — The most renowned of these islands 
yielding marbles is Paros, one of the Cyclades, in the ^gean 
Sea, from which was taken the unrivalled white marble exten- 
sively used by ancient sculptors. The quarries have long been 
abandoned, and this beautiful marble can be seen only in 
works of ancient art. It is more particularly described as an 
antique. 

The Island of Melo, formerly Melos, also one of the Cyclades, 
is of volcanic origin, with hot springs, and sulphur and alum 
mines. It has a modern celebrity as the place where the famous 
statue of Venus di Milo, now in the Louvre, was found in 1820. 
The island contains granular limestone, with white and yellow 
marbles, and serpentine, but its chief rock is the Poros lime- 
stone, enclosing numerous fossils. 

The Island of Crete, now Candia, is under the jurisdiction 
of Turkey, but all its past associations are Greek, and it seems 
more appropriately classed with the Isles of Greece. It is 
traversed from east to west by a range of mountains from 
which, midway, rises Mount Ida, the early home of Jupiter. 
Homer sings of its hundred cities ; here Minos, the judge of 
Hades, first made laws for the Cretans, and here was the 
famous Labyrinth of Daedalus, where was offered a yearly 
sacrifice of Athenian youths and maidens. Though it has 
been doubted whether the Labyrinth ever existed except in 
the imagination of the poets and writers of antiquity, it seems 



206 LIMESTONES AND MARBLES. 

probable that it did exist, and that it was one of the natural 
caverns, many of which are found in the limestones of Crete, 
enlarged by art and intersected by intricate windings, passages, 
and galleries, misleading and bewildering to one unacquainted 
with its entangling mazes. Pliny speaks of this and three 
other celebrated Labyrinths, the largest of the four being in 
Egypt, another in the Isle of Lemnos, and the fourth in Italy, 
all with arched roofs of polished stone. According to the 
same authority, Parian marble and granite were used in the 
construction of the Egyptian Labyrinth, three thousand six 
hundred years before his time, or between five thousand and 
six thousand years ago. This computation would give an 
exceedingly great age to Parian marble as known to art. 
The Labyrinth was nothing less than a subterranean city, 
divided into different regions called nomes, with their palaces, 
temples, shrines, pyramids, porticoes, flights of steps, columns, 
statues, and other objects seen in a city. 

Some modern writer has stated that the Cretan Labyrinth 
was constructed in the Tertiary formation. Oolitic and com- 
pact limestones, gypsum', and white marble are found in Crete, 
but the principal rock is the Cretaceous of the Mediterranean 
type, and it is possible that the Nummulitic of the Tertiary is 
included in the rock system of this island. 

The bald and misty tops of the mountains of gray limestone 
seen in Chios, on the coast of Asia Minor, have a sombre 
appearance, a peculiarity which belongs to the mountains of 
Greece and Albania, where this rock is abundant. Chios, 
forming a part of the Turkish Empire, was famous in Greek 
history, producing many eminent men, and contesting with 
Smyrna, the honor of having been the birthplace of Homer. 
With less doubtful claims it boasted of the beauty of its 
women, the excellence of its wines, and the value of its marble 
and other natural productions. 

The Island of Santorin, the ancient Thera, or "Kaliste the 
Beautiful," is volcanic with the exception of Mounts St. Elias, 
Stephen, and William, and the monolith of Messaria, which 



LIMESTONES OF GREECE. 20/ 

are principally of granular limestone. Santorin, together with 
the small islands near, has been the theatre of eruptive activity, 
and in the mass of fragmentary matter forming the island, 
marine shells are found analogous to those of the sea in the 
neighborhood, which were thrown up from the deep waters 
and suddenly buried by showers of ashes. Prehistoric cities 
were overwhelmed by eruptions of the great central voldano, 
which it is thought must have sunk in the sea seventeen hun- 
dred ' or eighteen hundred years before the Christian era. 
Terra cotta vases have been discovered on the island of Thera, 
buried under sixty feet of pumice-stone and volcanic ashes. 

The large Island of Euboea, the modern Negropont, is 
traversed through its entire length of ninety miles by a range 
of mountains of more than seven thousand feet in their great- 
est elevation, affording limestones of variable character, in- 
cluding hard, granular, sonorous, foliated, and fossiliferous 
varieties. 

In the neighborhood of the ancient city of Chalcis, the 
mother of colonies, are developed red and black marbles simi- 
lar to those of Mount Parnassus, which, like the latter, resem- 
ble the Belgian. 

Cretaceous limestones are developed on the small islands 
called the Sporades, and the wild, sterile Island of Syme, on 
the Adriatic coast, affords a variety similar to that of Rhodes, 
of Tertiary age. Concretionary deposits form, to a great 
extent, the Island of Cos, sacred to ^Esculapius in the early 
legends of Greece, while to the north lies Samos, at one time 
the centre of Ionian art and science, with a native school of 
statuary, divided into two parts by a chain of mountains 
three thousand six hundred feet high, composed chiefly 
of lacustrine limestones, similar to those of Chios. 

The islands of Standia, Tenos, Naxos, Syros, and Antip- 
aros yield white marble. The last is celebrated for its stalac- 
tite cavern, called the Grotto of Antiparos, in the side of 
a mountain, comprising an apartment of vast height, and 
walls of pure white marble, with the usual phenomena of col- 



208 LIMESTONES AND MARBLES. 

umns, pendants, and ornaments, simulating vegetable forms, 
found in caves of all countries. 

A statuary marble nearly equal to that of Paros is native 
to the Island of Naxos, famous in the legendary history of 
Bacchus ; and Lesbos, the home of Sappho and Arion, once 
the seat of a school of lyric poetry, is intersected by lofty 
mountains yielding marble. 

The Island of Cyzicus in the Propontis, or Sea of Marmora, 
was well supplied with marble, and it was, without doubt, 
partly due to the easily accessible building material that the 
city of Cyzicus, whose ruins are still to be seen, was so cele- 
brated for the beauty and magnificence of its edifices. 

Scaglia, or the limestone of the Apennines, is the principal 
rock of the Ionian Isles on the west coast of Greece, there- 
fore it is not improbable that the fortress or palace of Ulysses, 
which crowned the summit of Eagle's Cliff at the foot of 
Mount Neium, on the small rocky Island of Ithaca, was built 
of this limestone, since, from the evidence of recent discov- 
eries, Ulysses and his contemporary heroes cannot be dismissed 
as mythical characters. 

The Island of Cephalonia consists of a white limestone, 
more or less crystalline, resembling that of Malta. The fos- 
sils are rare except in the environs of Argostoli, in the south- 
western part of the island, where the Tertiary beds are re- 
markable for the number and preservation of organic remains. 
In the island of Zante, the " woody Zacynthus " of Homer, a 
limestone formation with fossils, is largely developed near the 
city of Zante ; it is of a pale-yellow color, and penetrated by 
caverns. This island is known for its bituminous wells, which 
still supply large quantities of pitch. 

The excavations of Dr. Schliemann at Mycene and Tiryns, 
ancient cities of Argolis, prove that limestones and marbles 
were generally used in construction at an early period in 
Greece, as they were in other countries. The Cyclopean 
walls of Mycene were built of the beautiful, hard breccia, with 
which the mountains abound, and the ancient quarry of Char- 



LIMESTONES OF GREECE. 209 

vati is still seen near the ruins. The wall surrounding the 
Acropolis was from thirteen to thirty-five feet high, with an 
average thickness of sixteen feet. The blocks of stone are 
of different sizes, some very large, and some in the form of 
polygons, closely fitted in the joints. These structures, it 
is thought, date from 1600' to 1800 B. C. At Tiryns the 
immense blocks are rudely put together, but neither here 
nor at Mycene do they compare in magnitude with those of 
Baalbec. 

The most interesting remains of Mycene are those called 
the* Treasury of Atreus, assigned by tradition to the father of 
Agamemnon, which is said to be the only complete historic 
monument in Greece. The interior of the Treasury is arched 
in the roof and sides to resist both vertical and lateral press- 
ure, showing that the principles of the arch were understood 
at a very remote period. A similar structure, called the 
Treasury of Minyas, whose ruins are extant, was built of white 
marble in a hill of the ancient city of Orchomenus, in Boeotia. 
The walls were covered with brazen plates of polished metal 
instead of sculpture, a practice of a later date, and fastened by 
bronze nails. A large number of similar fastenings were 
found at Mycene, where the same fashion was in vogue. 

Among the materials found in the ruins of ancient Greek 
cities used for decoration, vases, ornaments, and articles of 
common use, were white, green, red, and blue marbles, alabas- 
ter, serpentine, steatite, granite, diorite, basalt, jasper, obsi- 
dian, onyx, rock-crystal, amber, fluor-spar, agates, opal, and 
gold and silver in great abundance. The specimens of pottery 
were remarkable for having preserved their colors fresh for 
more than two thousand three hundred years. 

A number of the modern Greek marbles exhibited at 
the Paris Exposition of 1878 resembled, in appearance, the 
antiques, notably the Italian Sette Basi, Pavonezzetto, Rosso 
antico, and Verde serpentine. Other varieties are given in 
the Appendix, and in the articles on " Antique Marbles." 



210 LIMESTONES AND MARBLES. 



GREEK ART. 



The history of the limestones and marbles of Greece would 
be incomplete without some notice of a few of the numerous 
works of art, illustrating the uses made of the abundant 
material for sculpture and architecture which this country 
yields. 

Of all the races of men none have ever surpassed or even 
equalled the Greeks in their productions in stone. They 
were the greatest idealists the world ever saw, and marble 
under their hands assumed forms of beauty, such as could 
result only from artistic genius of the highest order. 

During its m.ost flourishing period, Greek art gave expres- 
sion to the national religious thought embodied in the sculp- 
tured forms of the gods. 

Their system of mythology, invented by the poets, was up- 
held and perpetuated by art ; hence their most beautiful works 
were the statues of their divinities, and the most magnificent 
buildings were the temples which enshrined them. The age 
of Pericles and Phidias, names associated with the most 
illustrious period in the history of Athens, would, perhaps, 
afford the best example of the possibilities of the unrivalled 
Parian and Pentelic marbles under the control of transcend- 
ent genius. 

As the history of marble cannot be isolated from the history 
of art, so the name of Phidias cannot be separated from the 
history of sculpture. Born at a time when Greece was passing 
through a great national crisis, the struggle with Persian des- 
potism, his youthful genius was inspired by the stirring events 
of his time to create those wonderful productions which were 
the admiration of his own age, as the fragments of his works 
have been of succeeding generations. The temples and 
shrines of the gods of Greece had been destroyed by the in- 
vaders, and it was to their restoration that his great efforts 
were directed. 

Every one at all acquainted with the history of Athens, his 



GREEK ART. 211 

native city, is familiar with some of the more celebrated works 
by this artist, or those wrought under h^S'^^upervision, which 
adorned the Acropolis. Ascending the marble steps on the 
west side of the hill we enter the Acropolis through the 
Propyl^a, the famous entrances made by Phidias, where the 
first object of interest was the Parthenon, said to be the most 
beautiful and artistically perfect structure of its kind of any 
age, built of Pentelic marble, which was first used in the cele- 
brated sculptures of this temple. Many of them were re- 
moved by Lord Elgin, and are now to be found in the British 
Museum. Liibke, in his History of Sculpture, says of them : 
"•No plastic work has ever again been executed with so ele- 
vated power and so graceful beauty. There is a breath of 
imperishable youth about every figure ; nature is conceived 
with such grandeur and might that one feels as if looking at 
a race of gods." 

Through all her internecine wars G;-eece held one state, 
Elis, sacred to peace and friendship. Here the Greeks laid 
aside their mutual jealousies, and met as brothers of the same 
noble race ; here the national Olympic games were celebrated, 
and here was the famous grove Altis, the " sanctuary of the 
arts ; " and to this spot, consecrated to Jupiter, the Greek 
states sent their contributions from their best masters. The 
wonderful colossal statue of the king of gods, by Phidias, 
made of gold and ivory, seated on a throne ornamented with 
precious stones, adorned the sacred grove. 

As Phidias was, par excellence, the sculptor of the gods, so 
Polycletus, his fellow-pupil, was the sculptor of men. One of 
his most celebrated statues was the Spear-bearer, called the 
" Canon," because it represented the highest ideal of the 
human form. 

Praxiteles appeared at a later period, when art had passed 
from the region of grand and spiritual representation to one 
of grace and sensuous beauty. He was the creator of the 
Cnidian Venus, "which was," says Liibke, "in his day what 
the, Olympian Jove was in the time of Phidias." 



212 LIMESTONES AND MARBLES. 

Scopas, contemporary with and equal to Praxiteles, pro- 
duced the sculptures which adorned the famous Mausoleum, 
and it has been thought that the Battle of the Amazons, 
represented on the frieze, is surpassed only by the sculptures 
of the Parthenon. 

It is not known whether Praxiteles or Scopas, or some other 
artist, gave to the world the celebrated group of Niobe, the 
** Mater Dolorosa of antiquity " ; but fortunate it was that this 
remarkable group was rescued from the destruction which 
swept away the larger number of the great masterpieces of 
antiquity. Some of the later works of Greek art, inferior in 
sublime greatness and spiritual beauty to those of an earlier 
period, are the Laocoon, and Apollo Belvedere of the Vatican, 
the Venus de Medici at Florence, and the Farnese Bull at 
Naples. 

The genius of the Greek nation burned with so intense a 
glow that it burnt itself out, leaving behind its diminished 
lustre, reflected by another people, less gifted in creative and 
artistic power. 



I 



CHAPTER XV. 

LIMESTONES OF THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE AND CHINA. 

I. The Russian Empire. — The Eozoic rocks are developed 
in the regions of the White Sea and the Gulf of Finland in 
the north, and from the Sea of Azof in the south to the fifty- 
second degree of latitude, yet they do not afford any of the 
great limestone formations like the Laurentian series of North 
America. 

Paleozoic rocks, including vast beds of limestone, are spread 
over this extensive empire, where, in some places, they have 
a remarkable development. 

The Timan range of mountains, the great western branch 
of the Ural, reaching to the Arctic, unknown to geologists, 
says Murchison, writing in 1843, until recent explorations, 
affords the largest masses of Paleozoic strata, the greater part 
being unchanged by metamorphism. 

The Lower Silurian, represented by the Pentamerus lime- 
stone, and the Pleta, identical with the Scandinavian Ortho- 
ceratite, and characterized by the same species of fossils, 
covers a large area, and has afforded numerous specimens for 
collections. 

The Pleta limestone of Western Russia prevails in the 
government of St. Petersburg, forming the low hills south of 
the capital, and extending in cliffs along the Gulf of Bothnia. 
In the environs of St. Petersburg it is bent into a complete 
arch, and along the Gulf of Finland, in Esthonia, it sometimes 
rises in cliffs one hundred and fifty feet high, with buttress- 

213 



214 LIMESTONES AND MARBLES. 

like projections. Lake Peipus, connected with the gulf by the 
Narva River, precipitates its waters over an escarpment of 
this limestone south of the old Castle of Narva. In conse- 
quence of the disintegration of the lower strata of the cliff, 
the falls, like those of the Niagara, are receding ; the Gulf of 
Finland has been called, in reference to this geological fact, 
the Ontario, and Lake Peipus, the Erie, of Esthonia, and 
of course the Narva River, the Niagara, but the formations 
of the two cataracts belong to different periods. The Pleta 
limestone has no rival in its western range to the Baltic, but 
towards the south it is replaced by those of the Devonian and 
Carboniferous systems. The Pentamerus limestone is pre- 
dominant in the government of Kovno, south of St. Peters- 
burg, and is intercalated between two other formations. The 
Lower Silurian strata, enclosing an abundance of animal 
organisms, yield marbles and dolomite. 

Devonian rocks form one of the most extensive systems in 
Russia, covering a tract of one hundred and fifty thousand 
square miles, constituting the Valdai Hills south of St. Peters- 
burg, except the summits, which are Carboniferous, and extend 
over the region around Lake Ilmen and other large areas. 
They are, in Russia, le. calcareous than those of the same 
age in North America, where they yield some of the great 
limestone formations. 

In Courland and other Baltic provinces the Devonian series 
extends to the White Sea, and on the Tchussovaya River, a 
branch of the Kama, these rocks shoot up to a great height 
like sharp-pointed needles. The limestones of the series 
occur in the Urals, and have been quarried on the Polist 
River south of St. Petersburg. At Lake Ilmen the cliffs, 
four hundred to five hundred feet high, are composed mostly 
of these limestones, which attain a great thickness to the 
south of this region, and several varieties are displayed near 
the ancient Castle Kircholm, on the Duna, in Livonia, and at 
the Castle of Selberg, further u^ the river, where they are 
more than seventy feet thick. 



Plate XVI. 




Seme Santo. 




LUMACHELLA PaVONAZZA. 



Abmbtronq i Co. LlTH. BOSVOH. 



LIMESTONES OF THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE AND CHINA. 21 5 

The most remarkable specimens of fossil fishes, says 
Murchison, are found in sand and marl at the cliffs of Dorpat, 
west of Lake Peipus. 

In Central Russia Devonian limestones enclose the Pro- 
ducta, a Carboniferous fossil ; and at Orel, on the Oka River, 
where it is extensively quarried, the rock is filled with Serpula, 
Natica, and Area, the last forming entire beds. At Othrada, 
north of Orel, is found a variety with innumerable minute 
shells, analogous to the Venus of North America, and still 
further north occurs a peculiar variety of a magnesian char- 
acter resembling that of Orel. The limestones of this period, 
in Russia, are replete with characteristic fossils identical with 
those of the Boulonnais of France, the Eifel of Germany, and 
the Devonshire of England. 

The Carboniferous system of this country is very important, 
and has an enormous distribution, which, through its entire 
length, has a subsoil of limestone, including several kinds 
with the typical fossils. 

The White Moscow is the representative of the Russian 
Carboniferous limestones, and covers a vast extent of terri- 
tory from Moscow to Archangel towards the north, and 
diverges from Moscow to other places towards the east, south, 
and west. It is generally white, of coarse grain, and is dis- 
tinguished by the fossil Spirifer Mosquensis. At the quarries 
south of Moscow it has yielded the excellent white stone of 
which the city is built. 

The greatest variety of this formation is observed on the 
Oka River, where in one locality its outcrop is more than 
two hundred and fifty feet, and at Kolonma, on the same 
river, it was used for the buildings of the town; both here 
and near Moscow it is intercalated with yellow magnesian 
Hmestone. Another remarkable display is seen at the ancient 
Tartar city of Kasinof, on the Oka, combined with a mag- 
nesian limestone bearing a close analogy to the Zechstein of 
Germany, forming a series three hundred feet thick. 

The White or Moscow limestone of Archangel, on the 



2l6 LIMESTONES AND MARBLES. 

Andoma River, may be called, says the distinguished geolo- 
gist before quoted, a coral reef largely formed of the Chsetetes 
radians often aggregated in large concretionary masses enclos- 
ing caverns. The lime obtained from this rock is used for 
whitewashing buildings, a prevailing custom in Russia. 

The upper member of the Carboniferous group is the 
Fusilina limestone, which has a large development on the 
Volga between Simbirsk and Samara, in the form of cliffs two 
hundred or three hundred feet in height. The peculiar bend 
in the river, at this place, taking the form of a parallelogram, 
encloses hills of limestone, the lower beds consisting of 
lithographic stone similar to the Solenhofen, and the upper, 
of pure Fusilina strata. 

The Carboniferous series disappears towards the south but 
emerges again between the Don and the Dnieper, comprising 
the richest coal region in Russia, and is spread over a surface 
of eleven thousand square miles, constituting a part of the 
Upper Steppes of the Don Cossacks and the New Russias, 
and some of the strata on the Donetz and the Ural Mountains. 
The lower beds resemble the Great Scaur of England. 

The Permian system, named for the ancient kingdom of 
Permia, in the east part of Russia, is more fully developed in 
this country than in any other, extending over a large part of 
the eastern and central portion, and covering a territory, it is 
stated, twice as large as France. 

The limestones of the period, with few exceptions, are not 
abundant in fossils, although a zone resembling the Zechstein 
formation appears near Orenburg, filled with fragments of 
white shells of the Producta, Orthis, Modiola, and others. 
Varieties found nowhere else in Russia, occur in the Steppes 
of the Kirghiz. 

Permian limestones stretch towards the west over a 
considerable portion of the country, and on the Sok, escarp- 
ments of white and yellow magnesian strata rise to a height 
of from one hundred to one hundred and twenty feet, and are 
the source of the sulphur springs of the Imperial Baths, near 



LIMESTONES OF THE %LUSSIAN EMPIRE AND CHINA. 21/ 

Moscow. In the vicinity of Perm the formation encloses 
fossils peculiar to the Zechstein. 

The beautiful city of Kazan, on a branch of the Volga, near 
the junction of the two rivers, and the seat of a university, is 
built upoli Permian strata, including a white, fossiliferous 
limestone, affording the foundation-rock of the citadel. On 
the Volga, below the city, the cliffs attain considerable eleva- 
tion and extend for a long distance. The fine tovv^n of Arzana 
on the Tiosho, rises upon an elevated terrace encircled by 
Permian, fossiliferous limestones ; and to the north, the Plana, 
like the Tiosho, has cut a channel through this rock, in which 
are large caverns, occasioned by the subsidences of the gyp- 
sum underlying all the limestones of this region. The gyp- 
sum, which is also developed on the Pinega River, alternating 
with limestones, is pure white, and in places is displayed in 
vertical walls seventy or eighty feet in height. The Dwina, 
three-fourths of a mile wide in the upper part of its course, 
flows through a long gorge of gypseous alabaster, which pro- 
duces the effect of a bank of snow, surmounted by a line of 
dark-green fir-trees. A layer of fossiliferous limestone inter- 
stratifies the gypsum cliff, while, a little higher up the river, 
a pink gypsum, with red and green marls, is displayed on the 
banks. A pure white, saccharoidal limestone, associated with 
gypsum, appears on the upper Volga; at the town of Nijni 
Novgorod, celebrated for its great annual fair, where the 
Oka unites with this river, the banks display cliffs, from three 
hundred to four hundred feet high, composed of red and green 
ribboned marls, limestones, and sandstones. The limestone 
encloses brilliant concretions of gypsum but no fossils. South of 
Orenburg, on the Ural River, great salt mines with gypsum 
occur, long known to the nomadic tribes of the country. What 
is called the Freezing Cavern exists in a hill of gypsum, and 
has been utilized by the natives for a cellar. It is intensely 
cold in the hottest weather, but so warm in the cold season 
that ice is soon reduced to water. 

The Great and Little Bogdo are isolated hills or small 



2l8 LIMESTONES AND MARBLES. 

mountains on the left bank of the Volga, in the Steppes of the 
Kirghiz. The Great Bogdo, remarkable for its peculiar fauna 
and flora, is six hundred feet above the Caspian Sea, the high- 
est point in the Steppes of Astracan. It is an object of 
religious veneration to the nomadic tribes and of interest to 
scientific travellers. The base of the hill consists of marl, 
from which brine springs issue, depositing a solid bank of salt 
of the depth of a foot in a single year. Other strata cover 
this marl, but the summit is crowned by a gray limestone, 
similar to the Muschelkalk, enclosing Ammonites, Gervillia, 
Perna, and other characteristic fossils. The Little Bogdo 
has nearly the same composition, but the top is covered 
with angular fragments, resembling the ruins of buildings, 
which are believed to be such by the inhabitants. The 
Steppes of Astracan abound in marine shells. 

The Jurassic or Oolitic series of rocks has a more limited 
distribution in Russia than in most other countries. The 
strata consist largely of shales and marls in isolated masses, 
at remote distances, including unimportant limestones dis- 
played at Izium, on the Donetz, and in the steep cliffs of the 
Crimea. 

A white, fossiliferous limestone or Coral Rag, analogous to 
that on the Donetz, forms the ridge, three hundred feet in 
height, along the Vistula, near which stands Cracow, the 
ancient Polish capital, founded nearly twelve centuries ago. 
About this venerable city cluster many associations of his- 
torical and national interest ; the sovereigns of a long and 
proud line, were crowned here, and the Cathedral, regarded 
the finest in Poland, contains the tombs of the kings and 
queens, including those of Casimir, Sobieski, Copernicus, 
Kosciusko, and other distinguished persons. 

The Cretaceous rocks, with a large representation, extend 
in detached masses across the south and south-central por- 
tions of the country from east to west, but are not found in 
the north. One of the finest displays of white chalk in Rus- 
sia is said to occur on the Donetz, in the Steppes of the Don 



LIMESTONES OF THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE AND CHINA. 219 

Cossacks, where Artesian borings through this formation 
reach the depth of six hundred and thirty feet. 

Cretaceous strata are very abundant in the Caucasus Moun- 
tains, and in Kirghiz, in the southwestern part of Siberia, 
bordering the Caspian and Aral Seas, while shell limestones 
of this period form the summits of the lofty Caucasus, cov- 
ering peaks nearly eighteen thousand feet high. 

The Tertiary formations are divided by Murchison into 
three great zones : the Eocene, the Miocene, and the Aralo- 
Caspian. The Eocene are mostly on the Volga and the 
Dnieper rivers ; the Miocene, in Bessarabia, Podalia, and 
Poland; and the Aralo-Caspian, a brackish water deposit, 
about the Caspian and the Aral Seas. The last formation, 
called the Limestone of the Steppes, is spread over a wide 
area, covering the lower Steppes of Astracan between the 
Ural Mountains and the Volga, and the Caspian and the Sea 
of Aral. 

The Tertiary strata of the Carpathian Mountains, embrac- 
ing varieties of marine and fresh-water limestones, are similar 
to those found in the Apennines and the basins of Vienna, 
Bordeaux, and Paris. 

At Taganrog, on an arm of the Sea of Azof, the limestone 
is very fossiliferous and yields a rock equal to the Calcaire 
grossier of the Paris Basin. A whitish, shelly, porous lime- 
stone, quarried at Odessa for the buildings of that and other 
southern cities of Russia, is called the Limestone of Odessa. 
In places it is valuable, as in the cliffs near the town, includ- 
ing both marine and fresh-water deposits with the bones of 
elephants, horses, dogs, and other Mammals'. Varieties of 
Tertiary limestones are developed in the Crimea, from Sevas- 
topol in the southwest to Kertch in the east ; at the latter 
place a shell limestone is quarried identical with the Odessa, 
composed in the upper beds of masses of corals exhibiting 
irregular and fantastic forms in imitation of steps and seats ; 
one of these accumulations, overlooking the city, is called the 
Throne of Mithridates, the ambitious King of Pontus. 



220 LIMESTONES AND MARBLES. 

The Aralo-Caspian or Steppe limestone is by far the most 
important Tertiary limestone in the Russian Empire, covering 
an immense tract in southeastern Europe and western Asia, 
forming the largest basin in the world, which was, it is sup- 
posed, an early, extensive Mediterranean. The fossils of this 
rock include species both of fresh and brackish waters, analo- 
gous to, or identical with, the shells now existing in the Cas- 
pian, proving, it is thought, that this vast region was once 
covered by a sea of brackish water, of which the Caspian and 
the Aral are the "diminished types." It is probable that this 
Tertiary sea occupied the wide tracts of Asia constituting the 
country of the Turcomans and the Kurghiz tribes, and in con- 
firmation of this theory it is argued that the Steppe limestone 
is almost the only rock found throughout this immense terri- 
tory, and that the animals enclosed differed as essentially from 
those of the ocean of that day as those of Australia, at the 
present time, differ from the animals of all other countries ; 
hence the conclusion is reached that the Aralo-Caspian 
deposits were accumulated under one vast inland sea. 

The limestone of the Taman peninsula,, in the Sea of Azof, 
extends eastward along the northern slope of the Caucasus to 
the Caspian, and corresponds to that of Daghestan, which forms 
the low hills on the western shore of this sea ; the Paludina, 
a fresh-water fossil, is abundant in the limestone of Daghestan, 
while in that of the plateau and Isthmus of Ulst, between the 
Caspian and the Aral Seas, the Neritina and the Cyclas, salt- 
water fossils, are combined with the Paludina. Between 
Astracan and Tzritzin, on the Volga, the Myrtilus is very 
abundant, forming conglomerates which constitute entire 
islands. 

The Steppe limestone is seen at Derbend and Baku, on the 
west shore of the Caspian, in the region named the Field of 
Fire, which emits an inflammable gas called by the natives 
" sacred fires," and contains mud volcanoes and springs of 
naphtha. This formation west of the Aral passes to the 
south of Khiva, and probably covers the plains of Turkistan. 



LIMESTONES OF THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE AND CHINA. 221 

Some of the Aralo-Caspian fossils have been discovered as far 
north as latitude fifty-five degrees. 

The Steppe limestone is an exceedingly interesting forma- 
tion, from its great extent and its peculiar and uniform charac- 
ter, affording evidence of a vast interior sea. 

Limestones form a considerable part of the lofty Elburz 
Mountains, stretching across the northern part of Persia to 
the Black Sea, and comprising some celebrated peaks. The 
Mount Ararat of the present day is volcanic, an eruption 
having occurred as late as 1785. It consists of two summits. 
Great and Little Ararat, the former, ascended in 1829, by 
Parrot, and in 1876 by Mr. Bryce, is given as a little more 
than seventeen thousand, and the latter thirteen thousand feet 
in height. Mount Alaghez, a peak of the same group, nearly 
ten thousand feet high, is characterized by four rocky pyra- 
mids arranged around the base. Between these mountains, 
covered with perpetual snow, lies the city of Erivan in the 
midst of a fruitful region celebrated for its orchards, and 
interesting to biblical and classical students. 

A part of the Caucasus Mountains has been referred to the 
Jurassic period, but the basin of Georgia on the southern 
declivity, watered by the ancient Cyrus, now the Kur, is Ter- 
tiary, including limestone and molasse, in places six hundred 
or seven hundred feet thick. In this mass of rock, dwellings 
are cut, grouped, and terraced in the isolated blocks, which 
rise one above another, forming gigantic steps to the summit. 

In the valley of the Aras, the ancient Araxes, the southern 
boundary of the Russian possessions in southwestern Asia, 
the hills are composed of different colored clays, in which 
occur the salt-mines of Akshivan, the Naxuana of the ancients, 
and, according to tradition, the first city built after the Deluge. 

The Nummulitic limestone, and large masses of dglomite, 
with caverns used by the natives for dwellings, are found in 
the Likh Mountains. 

As the fossils of the Carboniferous period are found in Nova 
Zembla, it is probable that the Ural range extending under 



222 LIMESTONES AND MARBLES. 

the Kara Straits, connects this island with the mainland. 
This extensive chain, separating two continents, barely attain- 
ing the elevation of the lowest mountains, the average height 
being from two thousand to three thousand feet, and the 
loftiest peaks only about six thousand, yet forms, on account 
of its mineral wealth, one of the most important mountain 
systems of the globe. Their moderate acclivity renders the 
Urals easily accessible, and many flourishing towns are scat- 
tered throughout the mining districts. Ekaterinburg has 
become famous for the cutting and polishing of gems, porphy- 
ries, and jaspers ; and Zlatust for the manufacture of Damas- 
cene blades and embossed ornaments. 

The Ural Mountains are formed of crystalline rocks, includ- 
ing saccharoidal marble, full of ores and minerals, embracing 
those of the Silurian, Devonian, Carboniferous, and Permian 
system, best displayed on the western declivity, where they 
have not been disturbed, and have undergone but little change ; 
on the eastern slope they have been more displaced, but con- 
tain the richest ores. 

The Jurassic series is developed in the northern Urals, on 
the western side, while a light-colored, dolomitic, cavernous 
limestone, forming the low hills along the Sylva River, a 
tributary to the Tchussovaya, has been referred to the Carbon- 
iferous period. Following the latter river south from Perm 
to Ekaterinburg, this limestone covers a large extent of sur- 
face, and the banks display marbles and greenstone. West of 
Ekaterinburg, Carboniferous limestones with fossils are well 
developed, but none enclosing organic remains are found 
near the axis of the range. At a gorge called Peter's Gate 
these limestones, pierced with caverns, rise in picturesque 
forms to a height of two hundred feet, while limestones 
with Silurian fossils appear at the Demidoff copper-mines 
celebrated for immense beds of malachite. To the north 
of these mines, rise the Large and Small Blagodat, impor- 
tant for magnetic ores ; on the summit, stands a monu- 
ment of a Vogul chief, burned by his clan for revealing the 



3 



LIMESTONES OF THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE AND CHINA. 223 

site of these ores to the Russians. Murchison, who is very 
graphic in his descriptions, says that the Tchussovaya, un- 
surpassed in picturesque beauty of scenery, flows in its way 
to the sea, through a Hmestone gorge in which cliffs of every 
form occur, displaying large caverns, with trees and flowers 
crowning the top. Rocks, passing through every shade from 
black to white, contorted into basins and anticlinals, here 
rising into serrated and broken peaks, there bending into 
graceful slopes, are brought to sight, delighting the traveller 
by the variety, beauty, and grandeur of the view ; and to 
enhance the interest of the scene, the romantic incident may 
be added that these caverns, as well as those on the banks of 
the Issetz, were the resort of Yarmac, the conqueror of the 
Siberian Tartars, whose exploits compare favorably with those 
of the Spanish conquerors of America. 

Among the limestones of this picturesque river are black 
dolomites, said to be unknown in western Europe, white dolo- 
mites and a subcrystalline, light-colored limestone of the Car- 
boniferous, called in Russia Stina voi, " the wall," which shoots 
up like the ''Needles" in the Alps. On a tributary of the 
Tchussovaya, are found limestones of the Silurian and Devo- 
nian systems, the latter resembling the Eifel in some of its 
fossils. 

In Siberia, on the Is, a branch of the Tura, a white lime- 
stone occurs profusely charged with the Pentamerus, Trilo- 
bites, and other Silurian shells ; the rocks are horizontal, an 
unusual condition on the eastern slope. Paleozoic limestones, 
regarded as Silurian and Devonian, extend towards the north, 
and at the copper-mines of Turginsk, the limestone, changed 
to crystalline marble, is associated with fine crystals of garnet. 
Some of the richest copper-mines and the celebrated gold- 
mines Peshanka, are found in this formation. 

The Kakva River, a branch of the Sylva, passes through 
a gorge of dark-gray limestone with white veins, in some 
places changed into granular marble, which crumbles to the 
touch ; in other parts, it is a compact limestone forming 



224 LIMESTONES AND MARBLES. 

grand scenery. The metamorphism was due to the proximity 
of eruptive rocks, changing limestones into dolomites and 
marbles. 

On the western side of the Urals, the Petchora, flowing 
north to the Arctic, has its source in a mountain of the same 
name, three thousand six hundred feet high, consisting of 
schistose rocks, from which arises another elevation called the 
i\Iount of Idols, on account of the eight natural columns of 
quartz ascending from its summit, the highest being one hun- 
dred feet. The tributaries of the upper Petchora are flanked 
by bands of black, Encrinal limestone, superimposed by gray 
crystalline marble, the series constituting cliffs rising four 
hundred feet above the river. The limestone is placed with 
the Lower Silurian and the marble, enclosing fossils similar 
to species found in Wales, with the Upper Silurian. 

Carboniferous limestones are displayed on the banks of the 
Iletsk, an affluent of the Petchora, forming escarpments that 
rise five hundred feet above the bed of the river. Whet- 
stones are obtained from this region, and along the western 
flanks of the Urals, which supply the Russian market. 

The rocks of the Timan range bear none of the character- 
istics of the Urals, but seem to belong rather to the Scandina- 
vian system. The principal range is Devonian, like the Valdai 
Hills, while the outer flanks and the southern extremity^ com- 
prise beds of Carboniferous limestone with the Spirifer Mos- 
quensis. 

The White or Moscow limestone, like that of the Timan 
Mountains, forms capes and high river-banks in the Arctic 
regions, where the fossil shells, in many instances, are found 
with the freshness of their original colors preserved and with 
their valves adhered. 

The South Urals, from Perm to Orenburg, develop a 
great variety of metamorphic rocks, including crystalline 
limestones. The Sugomac Mountain, with its rocky but- 
tresses of pure white, saccharoidal marble, forms a striking 
outer defence of the Urals ; while on the west flank, extending 



LIMESTONES OF THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE AND CHINA. 225 

towards Simsk, red and gray marbles are found. Both the 
Devonian and Carboniferous systems are represented in this 
region ; the latter encloses the lake at Simsk, with broken 
masses of limestone, aventurine covering some of the high- 
pointed rocks. The Siberian aventurine was used for the 
magnificent vase, now in the Museum of Geology, London, 
presented to Sir R. I. Murchison by the Emperor Nicholas. 
Both the material for the vase, and the porphyry colivnn on 
which it stands, were taken from the hills Bielaretsh and Kar- 
gan, and polished at Tomsk, Siberia. 

This distinguished geologist, in company with the Grand 
Duke Alexander, the late emperor, climbed the peak of the 
Uralskaga, and as he relates, w^ith one foot in Europe and 
the other in Asia, they sang the national anthem, " Long live 
the Emperor." 

In descending the Ural River, one meets with a saccharoi- 
dal marble with Encrinites, similar to that of the Sugomac. 
The summits of the granite range of the Ilmen, which yields 
a great variety of minerals, are covered with granular lime- 
stone, and the rich metalliferous district between the Miask 
on the eastern, and the Kara on the western slope of the 
Urals, develop Encrinital limestones. 

Small hills of Carboniferous limestone in the South Ural 
have yielded a large collection of organic remains, similar to 
those of the same period found in Belgium, France, and Great 
Britain ; in fact, throughout Russia, the formation is rich in 
fossils, usually well-preserved. Cephalopods are rare, but 
Brachiopods are very abundant ; the Producta is nearly uni- 
versal, the Spirifer affords fewer species, the Mosquensis being 
the most prevalent, while among Corals, the Chaetetes, Lith- 
ostrotion, Gorgonia, and the Bryozoan Retipora are the most 
abundant ; the Rhizopod Fusilina is peculiar to Carboniferous 
strata, and constitutes thick masses of rock. Orsk, on the 
Ural River, near the frontiers of the Kurghiz country, yields 
a variety of ornamental stones, including marbles, red, gray, 
and pink porphyries, and ribbon jaspers. 



226 LIMESTONES AND MARBLES. 

The whole southern portions of the Urals, inhabited by the 
Bashkirs, is composed of an innumerable number of sharp 
ridges of Carboniferous limestones, from nine hundred to one 
thousand feet high, while the central portion develops a great 
variety of Silurian age. The entire range is exceedingly rich 
in mineral productions, affording more than one hundred and 
twenty different species ; among these are found malachites, 
jaspers, serpentines, porphyries, marbles, iron, gold, emeralds, 
and diamonds. 

The extensive iron mines have developed and stimulated 
native talent to produce some of the best and most beautiful 
manufactures in iron and steel found in any country ; the 
etchings and ornaments of Russian swords are most exquis- 
itely finished. Colonel Anossoff, one of the most skilful 
metallurgists of the age, writes Atkinson, turned his attention 
to the ancient art of damascening arms, which had long been 
lost to Europe, and succeeded in rescuing the practice from 
oblivion. The rich malachite mines of the Demidoffs, whose 
estates are said to include between three and four millions of 
acres, are valued at an enormous sum, and develop, besides 
malachite, iron, copper, platinum, gold, and silver, porphyry, 
jasper of great beauty, and various colored marbles. 

Siberia, notwithstanding its inhospitable climate, is, for its 
mineral productions, one of the richest countries in the world, 
and considered of great importance by those who have ex- 
plored it for its animal and vegetable species. The valley of 
the Yenissee is very fertile ; magnificent pine forests cover 
regions north of the Arctic Circle, including trees of gigantic 
size, and it is claimed that one of these forests is the most 
extensive known. The Altai Range, forming the barrier 
between the great empires of Russia and China, develops 
some exceedingly rich silver mines. 

II. China. — The Altai Mountains belong, in part, to China, 
but the geological features of this great empire, however in- 
teresting and important they may be, are less understood than 
those of its powerful neighbor, as in a country whose inhab- 



LIMESTONES OF THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE AND CHINA. 22/ 

itants are suspicious of foreigners, scientific explorations are 
attended with difficulty, if not danger. Atkinson discovered 
in Mongolia large veins of beautiful, transparent, rose quartz, 
and a mountain of red and brown porphyry veined with white. 
Anions: the rocks and minerals of the Chinese Altai, he found 
marbles with purple spots, 'deep-red aragonite, plum-colored 
jaspers, agates, chalcedony, sardonyx, olivine, and other gems. 
The Chinese tablets sold as " rice stones " are made of sparry 
limestone, while jade is used very extensively for carved orna- 
mental articles, vases, images, and pagodas ; some of the lat- 
ter are cut in iconite or agalmatolite, and steatite. 

One of the most remarkable formations of China is the 
Loess, consisting of very fine sediment enclosing calcareous 
nodules and tube-like remains, thought to be the roots and 
branches of plants. The Loess forms a striking feature in 
the north and west, constituting extensive masses, present- 
ing a columnar structure ; in the steep cliffs formed of this 
deposit, the natives construct their dwellings, which are con- 
cealed from the traveller on the plains above. 

The rugged and mountainous provinces of Shan-se and 
Shen-se, west of the Great Plain bordering the Pacific, may 
be regarded, says Eden, as the mineral districts of China. 
They abound in coal, copper, gold, iron, cinnabar, jasper, 
lapis-lazuli, marble, and porphyry. Granite, marble, and coal 
are found not far from Peking. 

A prospective field of great interest to the geologist lies 
before him in this vast empire, and it is to be hoped that the 
government may, in the not far distant future, remove all 
obstacles in the way of scientific investigation. 



CHAPTER XVI. 

LIMESTONES OF THE TURKISH EMPIRE. 

The extensive domains of the Turkish Empire, including 
portions of two continents, intersected in every direction by 
lofty mountains, would, naturally, afford a great variety and 
abundance of calcareous rocks, embracing, it might be sup- 
posed, a wide range of geological time, but a larger part of the 
limestone formations of this dominion belongs to the younger 
members. 

In European Turkey, the Cretaceous and Tertiary strata 
are the prevailing types, represented by the Hippurite and 
Nummulitic formations, which constitute a series of parallel 
valleys similar to some of those in the Swiss and French Juras. 
Nearly the entire western part of the peninsula is composed 
of Tertiary limestones ; they are also found in the northern 
provinces, and it is believed that the vast basin of Bulgaria 
and Wallachia, on either side of the Danube, was, formerly, a 
gulf of the ancient Tertiary sea which covered a great part 
of the shore of the Black Sea. The chain of mountains on 
the coast of this sea, and in the basin of Thrace, now Rumili, 
and the northwest provinces of Bosnia and Servia, yield 
limestones with fossils identical with those of the .Tertiary 
limestone of Gratz and the Leitha of the Vienna Basin. 
The limestones of Bosnia and Servia may have been employed 
in the construction of Belgrade, one of the most strongly for- 
tified towns in Europe. 

The Tertiary formation includes the steep, isolated, square 
masses of rock upon which are built the Greek monasteries 
228 



LIMESTONES OF THE TURKISH EMPIRE. 229 

called Meteores, whose precipitous sides, rising from one hun- 
dred and ninety-five to three hundred and ninety feet, can be 
ascended only by ladders raised and lowered at the pleasure 
of the monks. 

The coast line of the Marmora is composed of Miocene 
limestones, while ranges of hills extending towards the south- 
west are covered with Nummulite of Eocene age. This form- 
ation, with Coral limestones, is found in the Deposito Dagh, 
the ancient Rodope Mountains, the highest in Thrace, once 
sacred to Bacchus. 

The celebrated Haemus range, a name suggestive of cold 
and snow, now known as the Balkan, has its southern slope 
composed largely of Cretaceous rocks. It is claimed that 
Triassic and Jurassic strata, though wanting on the northern 
side, are found on the south declivity of the chain ; . but little 
is known of the character of the. rocks on the western slope 
of these mountains. The Caprotina and Neocomian lime- 
stones of the Cretaceous period, with dolomites, are developed 
in Bulgaria, north of the Balkan. The system of rocks on the 
eastern shores of the Adriatic is regarded as the continuation of 
the Cretaceous beds of Italy, with a difference in their mineral 
character, those of Turkey having a preponderance of sand- 
stones, those on the western side, of limestones. Serpentines, 
and a conglomerate resembling the molasse of Thessaly, are 
very abundant in the Turkish provinces of the Adriatic. In 
the Danubian provinces many of the limestones are more or 
less crystalline, and have lost their fossiliferous character. 
Salonika on the yEgean, the ancient Macedonia, yields lime- 
stones enclosing Corals and Crinoids. The Struma River, 
the Strymon of the ancients, rising in Bulgaria and traversing 
Macedonia in its passage to the sea, has cut its way through 
an enormous mass of white and gray limestone and dolomites 
forming the Golo Brdo Mountains. 

Calcareous marls and limestones constitute, in part, the 
strata in the environs of Adrianople. It* may be taken for 
granted that rock in the neighborhood of a town, if suitable 



230 LIMESTONES AND MARBLES. 

for the purpose, was used in its construction, therefore there 
is not much doubt that limestone, which seemed to be a favor- 
ite building material with the architects of former times, 
was largely used in this celebrated city. The Emperor Ha- 
drian, at the beginning of the second century, laid the foun- 
dation of the town and called it Hadrianopolis ; it was a 
strongly fortified city, and became the second in importance 
in the Eastern Empire. It is situated on the Maritza River, 
formerly the Hebrus, a stream made famous in story by the 
legends of Orpheus, and was once the seat of the Turkish 
Empire in Europe, and the residence of the sultans. Besides 
its Roman antiquities, it contains one of the most magnifi- 
cent mosques in the empire, and other remarkable buildings 
erected by the Moslems. 

Thessaly, of classic renown, develops marls, molasse, 
pudding-stones, and calcareous tufas. The Thessalian plain 
was formerly one vast lake, whose waters ran to the sea be- 
tween Mounts Olympus and Ossa. The beautiful Vale of 
Tempe, whose exceeding loveliness poets have celebrated, was 
situated between these mountains, and through it flowed the 
River Peneus, making a channel for the waters of the plain. 

Besides its poetical renown, this region offers some geolog- 
ical features of great interest. The ancient inhabitants be- 
lieved that the plain of Thessaly formed a vast lake, until a 
passage was made through the rocks by some terraqueous 
convulsion, when the lake became dry land ; and this tradition 
was probably founded on fact, though the cause might have 
been, in part, the erosive power of water. The Deluge of 
Deucalion is easily explained by supposing the outlets of the 
lake to have been obstructed by deposits. 

Devonian limestones are found on the Bosporus, but the 
escarpments of this strait and of the Isles of Cyamus — blue 
islands — the movable Planctae and Symplegades of mythol- 
ogy — are composed of breccias. The beautiful harbor of 
the Golden Horn is cut through the Tertiary formation at 
its junction with ancient schists. 



Plate XVri. 




Pavonazzhtto. 





Sette Basi. 



Aemitbonc a Co. Lith. BotTOM. 



LIMESTONES OF THE TURKISH EMPIRE. 23 1 

To the west of Constantinople, are seen the limestone 
quarries from which the stone was taken for its bastions, 
walls, and aqueducts, constructed by the Emperor Justinian, 
who embellished, with magnificent buildings, the new capital 
of the Roman Empire, as Augustus had Rome, the old cap- 
ital, between five and six centuries before. The mosques 
under Moslem rule were built of the same kind of limestone, 
which varies in thickness and quality, being sometimes soft 
and sometimes hard and crystalline, enclosing broken shells, 
mostly of fresh-water origin. Black marble is quarried at the 
Sutton mine, on the Asiatic side. 

The Turkish Empire em.braces a territory celebrated in the 
history and literature of one of the most interesting nations 
of antiquity, the Greeks, a people that extended their civiliza- 
tion to Western Asia and the neighboring islands. Like 
Greece, Asia Minor is rich in associations ; every mountain 
and river, every country and city, is invested with fascinating 
interest, and here were born many illustrious men, whose 
genius infused antique art and literature with a "perennial 
charm and richness," and whose immortal works have been 
regarded with admiration for thousands of years. 

The numerous and magnificent cities of Western Asia, 
with their celebrated architectural monuments, whose ruins 
are to-day evidences of their former splendor, have a con- 
nection with the geological history of this country, once so 
fruitful and prosperous, so full of memorials of the past and 
associations with the present, as it became the theatre of the 
early triumphs of Christianity whose blessings have been 
transmitted to all succeeding generations. 

The opposite shores of the Sea of Marmora, says M. Petit- 
Bois, are widely different in their natural aspects ; sandy 
plains and monotonous hills of recent geological age charac- 
terize the European side, while abrupt rocks, rising to a great 
height, forming mountains, among which the lofty chain of 
the Mysian Olympas is prominent, constitute the bold outlines 
of the Asiatic coast ; at the foot of these mountains stands 



232 LIMESTONES AND MARBLES. 

the city of Brussa, formerly Prussa (famed in ancient literature 
for the festival there celebrated in honor of Hylas), built upon 
travertine resembling compact limestone. The mountains at 
this place are more than nine thousand feet in height ; in a 
deep ravine at their base is deposited calcareous tufa, assum- 
ing the form of stalactites and stalagmites. 

Here there is little variety in the rocks, but advancing 
towards the Kara-Sou, an affluent of the Sakaria, the ancient 
Sangarius, one meets with different colored limestones, while 
the Kara-Sou itself is enclosed between mountains, with walls 
of a clear, yellow limestone. The city of Biledjik is very pic- 
turesquely situated in an amphitheatre of conglomerate, while 
varieties of limestones, forming a group enclosing rare fossils 
and penetrated by numerous caverns, and very generally dis- 
seminated throughout the valley of the Kara-Sou, constitute 
the high rocks bordering the river in the neighborhood of the 
city. 

Limestones form the high mountain chains" between the 
Black Sea and Persia, and between Armenia and Syria on the 
Mediterranean. At Erzerum occurs a beautiful, gypseous 
alabaster, similar to that of the Euphrates, and for ornamental 
purposes equal to the Italian alabaster. Madden, or Kebben- 
Madden, on the upper Euphrates, is celebrated for its silver- 
mines. The mountains in which these mines are found, are 
composed of limestones, including a gray lithographic stone, 
used for the buildings of Madden, and said to belong to the oldest 
stratified rocks. The limestone forms a plateau along the river, 
with magnificent gorges, affording a passage to the water. 
At the copper-mines of Arghaneh-Madden it is suitable for 
construction, and has been employed for building. The pla- 
teau of the Tigris develops a beautiful serpentine, with dark- 
green base, holding crystals of diallage. 

The eastern branch of the Taurus Mountains is composed 
of a series of Cretaceous limestones, fifty miles in breadth, 
covered by Nummuhtic strata. The celebrated Armenian 
monastery at Arghaneh occupies the summit of a mountain 



LIMESTONES OF THE TURKISH EMPIRE. 22,3 

of Nummulitic limestone two thousand feet above the plain 
and four thousand above sea-level. The Cretaceous lime- 
stones of this region are similar to those of Europe and the 
northern countries of Africa, and the Nummuhtic, which is 
very prevalent in Asia Minor, sometimes constitutes moun- 
tains nearly ten thousand feet'in height. 

Lacustrine limestones occupy the basin of the ancient 
Halys, now the Kirgil Irmak, the largest river of Western 
Asia, which formed in early times, the boundary between 
states and races, separating the Indo-European from the 
Semitic nations. The modern city of Sivas, on this river, is 
constructed of travertine, which, with gypsum and limestone, 
constitutes the principal rock in the vicinity ; the upper layers 
of limestone, with Paludinae and Cyclades, form an elevated 
plateau five miles in width and fifteen in length, cut by deep 
ravines. 

Vast Tertiary deposits occur throughout the valley of the 
Halys, and on the eastern shore of the Black Sea, occupied 
by the ancient Colchis, land of the " Golden Fleece," com- 
prising oolitic limestones similar to those of Kertch in the 
Crimea. 

One of the most remarkable features of central Asia Minor 
is the presence of lava beds, combined with Tertiary strata, 
forming a deposit more than three thousand six hundred feet 
thick, extending over a surface of two hundred miles, and 
covering the territory surrounding the ancient city of Phila- 
delphia, called the Burnt Region. 

The ancient province of Phrygia yields serpentines and 
limestones of various kinds affording marbles, among them 
the celebrated Phrygian marbles described in another chapter. 
A valley is said to exist in this region containing artificial 
grottoes, cut in volcanic tufa, of different forms and sizes, with 
broad fagades, ornamented with sculpture, and spacious, deco- 
rated apartments. The architectural ornaments belong to 
different epochs of art, Greek, Roman, and Byzantine, and on 
some of them traces of painting are perceptible ; the rooms 



234 LIMESTONES AND MARBLES. 

have neither stairs nor other artificial means of ascent. These 
grottoes are numerous, and are found in many different local- 
ities, yet no mention is made of them by any ancient or 
mediaeval writer. 

The remains of Azani, in Phrygia, are considered to be 
better preserved than those of any other city of Western Asia. 
They comprise a splendid Temple of Jupiter, a theatre two 
hundred and thirty-two feet in diameter, and other architec- 
tural fragments, affording proof of the former magnificence of 
the city, which occupied a plain surrounded by mountains of 
schist and marble, at whose base are the quarries whence the 
stone was taken for the construction of the town. 

Sardis, in Lydia, is a very ancient city, and before its de- 
cline was one of the most celebrated in Asia Minor. Among 
its extensive ruins are Ionic columns of white marble, supposed 
to be from the Temple of Cybele, and the remains of other 
public buildings ; the most memorable relics are found near 
Lake Gygaea, the burial-place of the Kings of Lydia, which 
has been called the Place of a Thousand Tombs. 

The citadel of Sardis, containing the Palace and Royal 
Treasury, was built upon a rock projecting from the foot- 
hills of Mount Tmolus, surrounded by a triple wall, which 
renders it impregnable to assault, and was taken only by sur- 
prise by the Persians under Cyrus. The site of the city and 
the greater part of the basin of Sardis have been denuded and 
transported by the waters of the Hermus and its tributaries- 
In this basin fresh-water deposits prevail, while in the vicinity 
of Troy and the Dardanelles they are wholly marine. 

Troy itself was built upon a shelly limestone — Muschelkalk 
—and the probability is that the same rock was used in the 
construction of the city of Priam, though there are other kinds 
of rocks, mostly plutonic, in the neighborhood. Schliemann 
speaks of a shell limestone used in the buildings, and says 
that the quarry from which the stone -was taken is near the city 
and was open until a very recent date. The town, rebuilt by 
the Greeks, must have contained magnificent structures and 



1 



LIMESTONES OF THE TURKISH EMPIRE. 235 

works of art, judging from the fragments brought to Ught. 
Triglyphs six and a half- feet in length and two and a half in 
width were adapted only for very large buildings. Among 
the relics of this ancient city are a metope, with a sculptured 
representation of Apollo and the horses of the Sun ; idols 
carved in very fine marble ; a block of marble weighing fifty 
tons, bearing an inscription in Greek ; a pyramid of striped 
black, white, and blue marble ; a block striped with white, a 
kind of marble not now found in that region, and a block of 
Parian with sculptures in high relief, a very interQSting relic, 
giving evidence of the use of Parian marble for sculpture in 
those early ages. 

The ruins of Ephesus have been compared to a vast quarry, 
furnishing material for the building of many other towns, so 
extensive and numerous were the public edifices of this ancient 
city ; even the famous Temple of Diana, one of the wonders 
of the world, has contributed to the embellishment of many of 
the churches of modern days. The Emperor Justinian, who 
adorned his capital at Constantinople with splendid buildings, 
carried off statues and columns of green jasper for the Church 
of St Sophia, and other decorations taken from this Temple 
are found in Italian churches. 

Gold and the most precious marbles and woods were 
lavishly used in this celebrated building, and some of the most 
distinguished artists of the times were employed in its con- 
struction. The first temple was two hundred and twenty 
years in building, and contained more than a hundred columns, 
each one the gift of a king. It was reduced to ruins eight 
times and rebuilt ; the final destruction was by the Goths, in 
the beginning of the third century of the Christian era. 

The only city of ancient renown in Western Asia that has 
sur\'ived to the present day is Smyrna, which claimed to be 
the birthplace of Homer, and contained a magnificent build- 
ing dedicated to his honor. Smyrna is called, by its early 
historians, a beautiful city, but its present appearance is 
attractive only at a distance, made conspicuous by its domes 



236 LIMESTONES AND MARBLES. 

and minarets. It is encircled by mountains of compact, gray 
limestone, enclosing Nummulites and Hippurites, whose slowly 
accumulated masses of rock material contributed to its beauty 
and magnificence. North of Smyrna this limestone rises 
abruptly from the plain of the Hermus River, on the east side 
of Mount Spiglas, while on the south lacustrine limestones, 
varying in texture from lithographic stone to soft chalk, extend 
for several miles. 

A red variety of limestone, used at Brussa for marble, has 
its representative at Mount Olympus and in the Island of 
Rhodes. 

The great plain of Pamphylia, on the Mediterranean, is 
composed of travertine deposited in the form of cliffs from 
eighteen to seventy-five feet thick, resting on marine strata ; 
this same deposit constitutes the mountains to the south- 
west. 

Limestones are the prevailing rocks on the shores of the 
Mediterranean, extending throughout the provinces of Asia 
Minor, Greece, Malta, Egypt, Arabia, Palestine, and Syria, 
including the lofty ranges of Lebanon and Anti-Lebanon. 

Tertiary formations are largely represented in Cilicia, on the 
Mediterranean, whose chief city was Tarsus, on the Cydnus, a 
river remarkable for its clear, cold water flowing down from 
the Taurus Mountains, through valleys composed of Coral 
limestone and conglomerates. Tertiary strata compose the 
crest of shell limestones overlooking the ancient ramparts of 
Antioch, on the Orontes, the capital of Syria, once the chief 
city of Asia, and famous in the annals of Christianity. The 
calcareous breccia forming the plains of Antioch furnishes the 
beautiful marble called Breccia di Aleppo ; to the north of this 
city the Nummulitic limestone is present, and to the south 
white chalk. 

The Libanus Mountains, called by the Hebrews Lebanon 
or White Mountains, because their highest summits are 
covered by perpetual snow, and formerly celebrated for their 
cedars and vines, are mainly composed of limestone and chalk. 



LIMESTONES OF THE TURKISH EMPIRE. 23/ 

The eastern range, called by classic writers Anti-Libanus, 
develops gray chalk and Jurassic limestones, which, including 
dolomites, compose Mount Tabor, all the peaks to the east of 
Libanus, and the region about the Sea of Tiberias. 

The limestones of the Lebanon Mountains embrace many 
varieties, including red, white, black, and yellow ; the white 
constitutes the foundation-rock of the village of Bicherri, just 
below the cedars of Lebanon, the black is cavernous, and the 
red is crossed by white veins of quartz. 

North of Anti-Libanus, in a plain composed of the same 
limestone as that used in its construction, stood Baalbec 
or Heliopolis, whose extensive ruins are full of interest and 
mystery. The numerous magnificent buildings were erected 
on an elevated platform, in some places thirty feet above the 
plain, and surrounded by a wall. After the conquests of 
Alexander, Baalbec passed successively into the possession of 
the Greeks, Romans, and Saracens, but neither of these 
nations built into the wall those huge blocks of limestone that 
astonish modern travellers. Mr. Prime suggests the people 
who constructed these works may have been contemporary 
with the builders of the Pyramids. There are twenty of 
these blocks, some more than sixty feet in length, others 
from thirty to thirty-two, and all are thirteen feet high and 
ten and one-half thick. They were cut from a quarry of com- 
pact limestone, half a mile south of the town, where can be 
seen a block left in the mine, probably extracted at the same 
time, sixty-eight feet long, seventeen feet wide, and fourteen 
and one-half thick. 

On the highest part of the platform, stood a grand temple, 
extending, with its peristyle, porticoes, and courts, one thousand 
feet ; of its seventy Corinthian columns, seven and one-half 
feet in diameter, and seventy-six in height, six are left standing. 
A court four hundred and forty-four feet by three hundred 
and seventy, was surrounded by small semi-circular temples 
of Corinthian architecture ; but the most celebrated edifice 
v/as the Temple of the Sun, ornamented with the most 



238 LIMESTONES AND MARBLES. 

beautiful and elaborate carving ; the walls and nine of the 
columns remain standing. 

The beds from which the stone was quarried form a valley 
between two limestone chains of mountains, and are con- 
sidered of late formation. It is probable that they yielded the 
marlDle used for the sculptures. 

Nearly all Palestine is underlaid by limest ones, the greater 
part Jurassic, of variable character and remarkable for 
caverns, a fact agreeing with the frequent allusions to caves 
met with in sacred history ; such are the tomb of Abraham, 
a limestone cavern at Machpelah, the cave of Adullam, and 
others. The limestones of this country exhibit a great 
diversity of colors, comprising white, black, rose, red, and 
yellow. There is some disagreement among writers regard- 
ing the Chalk of Palestine ; some beheve there is no true 
chalk, while others say that in the region of Jerusalem and 
the valley of the Jordan, are Jurassic limestones, dolomites, 
and white chalk, and that a limestone with Cidaris, a Cre- 
taceous fossil, forms the eastern border of the valley. 

The celebrated Plain of Sharon, on the Mediterranean, 
redolent of roses and lilies, is covered by a sandy, marine 
alluvium ; the superimposing beds of limestones are regarded 
as Tertiary. 

Near Jerusalem, more especially about Bethany and the 
Hill of Ascension, the strata comprise different colored sands, 
with nodular masses, and yellow limestones veined with red. 
The mountains about the sacred city are, to a great extent, 
calcareous, while the rock on which it is built, and which was 
used in the construction of the Temple, is a very pure lime- 
stone, containmg more than ninety-eight per cent of carbonate 
of lime. 

This renowned and interesting city has stood for nearly 
forty centuries, notwithstanding the devastations of its wars 
and sieges, unparalleled in history ; within its walls and about 
its precincts there remain evidences of its magnificence in the 
days of its glory. Under the hill Bezetha is a series of wind- 



LIMESTONES OF THE TURKISH EMPIRE. 239 

ing passages and immense halls, supported by colossal pillars 
of pure white marble, which constituted the quarry whence 
the stone was taken for the buildings. Several columns cut 
from this Jerusalem marble are seen at the Pool of Siloam. 

At the foot of Mount Zion a covered gallery remains, sup- 
posed to be a part of the' Gymnasium or Forum, and in the 
ravine below are seen remains of the bridge, connecting the 
royal palace on this mountain with the Temple on Mount 
Moriah. Other remains comprise the Tombs of the Judges, 
a group of sepulchres cut in the native rock, and the Tombs of 
the Kings, one mile from the walls, both with sculptures, and 
the latter with columns and pilasters. What are called 
Zachariah's Tomb and Absalom's Pillar are monoliths with 
one side still adhering to the native rock, and decorated with 
Doric and Ionic ornaments. 

Throughout Palestine and Syria ruins of scattered columns 
of marble, granite, and porphyry, arches, colonnades, capitals, 
cornices, adorned with sculptures of classic workmanship, 
prove the splendor and magnificence of the public build- 
ings of the numerous cities of this once densely populated 
region. 

On or near the sea, were Gaza, an important military post, 
several times captured, destroyed, and rebuilt ; Ascalon, 
adorned by Herod the Great with colonnades, baths, and 
fountains, and famous in the devastating wars of the Middle 
Ages ; Azotus or Ashdod, memorable for a siege of twenty- 
nine years, the longest, it is claimed, on record ; Cassarea, 
the "pride and delight of Roman, Saracen, Templar, and 
Turk," embellished by Herod the Great, who, in his taste for 
magnificent structures, was the Augustus of the East, and 
Tyre, formerly the mart of the eastern world, renowned for its 
sumptuous temples and tombs. 

Samaria, the favorite abode of Herod, was, next to Jeru- 
salem, the most celebrated city for the beauty of its situation 
and the magnificence of its edifices. Glimpses of its ancient 
splendor are yet seen in the vast colonnades winding from 



240 LIMESTONES AND MARBLES. 

'the deep ravine to the highest terraces of the hill, the ruins 
of temples, and the broken fragments of triumphal arches. 

East of the Jordan, the ruined cities are still more 
numerous, one traveller having counted between three hun- 
dred and four hundred in the territory of the ancient Amorites, 
thus confirming the Biblical statement that there were sixty 
cities in this region with walls, gates, and bars, besides 
many unwalled towns. These ruins are on a magnificent scale, 
the gates being cut from a single huge block of stone ; a 
part of the works antedate the classical era, others belong to 
the Greek school. 

The ruins of Gerasa or Jerash have been thought to equal 
those of Palmyra, and to resemble, in places, the Colosseum 
at Rome. They comprise the remains of buildings usually 
found in Greek and Roman cities, sculptured in the Corin- 
thian and Doric orders. One temple was surrounded by a 
Corinthian peristyle, and another occupied a large area, 
enclosed by two hundred columns, while colonnades, bridges, 
aqueducts, and a necropolis, with sculptured sarcophagi, are 
all seen in this devastated city. 

Bozrah, the capital of the territory, exhibits remains in the 
Greek, Roman, and Saracenic styles, with columns fifty feet 
in height, and other architectural marvels. 

Palmyra, with its chaotic mass of snow-white marble shafts, 
capitals, bases, entablatures, all mingled in inextricable con- 
fusion, has been called a ruined forest in stone. The great 
colonnade comprised fifteen hundred columns, in four rows, 
extending four thousand feet ; but the most remarkable 
structure was the Temple of the Sun, which occupied a 
square of seven hundred and forty feet, and was elaborately 
decorated with exquisite sculptures. 

A bituminous limestone of a dark-gray or deep-black, enclos- 
ing fossil fishes, is found in the region of the Dead Sea, and is 
used by the inhabitants of Bethlehem for making small objects 
for devotional purposes, which are sold to the pilgrims. The 
lock, which is one-fourth bituminous, burns with a reddish- 



I 



LIMESTONES OF THE TURKISH EMPIRE. 24I 

yellow flame, and is used by the Bedouins for light. Lime- 
stones and basalts are found on both sides of the Dead Sea 
for some distance, and the frequent occurrence of lava proves 
the region to have been volcanic. 

Nummulitic limestones are developed on the eastern shore 
of the Gulf of Suez, while the interior of Arabia affords chalk 
and a yellow limestone, probably Cretaceous. A red sand- 
stone, analogous to the ancient rock of Nubia, covered by 
Cretaceous limestone, formed the palaces and tombs of Petra, 
of the once flourishing nation of Edom. 

From the testimony of travellers, we learn that crystalline 
rocks are predominant in the region of Mounts Sinai and 
Horeb, that porphyry and sandstone are the chief constituents 
of these mountains, that the summit of Mount Sinai is 
syenite, traversed by dikes of trap, and that a limestone 
thought to be Cretaceous forms the hills in the Desert of 
Sinai. The opinion that the rock which received the name 
syenite came from Syene, in Egypt, is regarded as erroneous, 
Mount Sinai being the place where it was found. 

Cretaceous beds and Nummulitic limestone extend from Syria 
to Kurdistan, and from the Caspian to the Aral. The basin 
of the Euphrates and the plains of Babylon are covered with 
an erratic formation composed of gravel, pebbles, and blocks, 
constituting the last deposit before the present epoch ; the 
region regarded the cradle of the human race is therefore 
the youngest in geological history. It is thought that the 
formation called the Breccia of Taurus, reaching from the 
source to the mouth of the Euphrates, is the result of some 
comparatively recent catastrophe. The basin of the river 
from the Taurus to Babylon, develops a variety of limestones, 
in places forming on the banks escarpments more or less 
elevated, while at Bir chalk forms the acclivities and conical 
hills from three hundred to three hundred and fifty feet in 
height. 

Orfa, the Edessa of ancient times, supposed to be the Ur 
of the Chaldees, stands on the border of the mountain region 



^-242 LIMESTONES AND MARBLES. 

adjacent to the rich and fertile plains of Harran, in Mesopo- 
tamia, where basalts and dolomites are succeeded by lime- 
stones. The territory about Orfa abounds in caverns indicat- 
ing the presence of calcareous rocks, which is very probable, 
since the city is built of white limestone. Tradition assigns 
to this -region the home of Job and Rebecca's Well. 

The most remarkable characteristics of the rocks of Kur- 
distan, and to some degree of those of Persia, are the compact- 
ness and uniform hardness of the limestones in the mountain 
regions, while on the banks of the Euphrates they become 
chalky, and on the plains of Mosul they are shelly. At Ze- 
nobia, on the Euphrates, a breccia of gypsum sandstone has 
been found, including quartz pebbles, jasper, serpentine, 
diallage, and some other rocks, lying under a bone breccia, 
and combined with various limestones, the whole series con- 
stitute the predominant rocks of this region. 

The city of Hit, formerly Is, on the Euphrates, above Bab- 
ylon, is celebrated for bitumen, employed in making the inde- 
structible cement used in building the palaces of the famous 
capital of the Chaldaean Empire. Limestones and gypsums 
form the valley of Kasserum, in the basin of the Euphrates, 
and the limestones constituting the passage of Shapur, are 
sculptured in antique bas-reliefs. 

The Tertiary system is represented in the valley of the 
Tigris by fossiliferous limestones, and a conglomerate of 
limestones, diallage, serpentine, quartz, and jasper, one hun- 
dred and eighty feet thick, is thought to be of the same age as 
that on which the walls of ancient Nineveh rested. 

Near Mosul, opposite the ruins, beds of compact or granular 
gypsum, of a bluish-gray or pure white color, are quarried 
under the name of Marble of Mosul. Above the gypsum is a 
coarse, friable limestone, full of fossils, commonly used for 
building-stone, which appears to have been employed in the 
construction of Nineveh. This city has been considered one 
of the oldest in the world, having been built, as is supposed, 
soon after the deluge, by Asshur, who thus laid the foundation 



LIMESTONES OF THE TURKISH EMPIRE. 243 

of the Assyrian Empire. It became a very large city, requir- 
ing in the time of the Prophet Jonah a three days' journey to 
encompass its walls, which are said to have been one hundred 
feet in height, with fifteen hundred towers, extending two 
hundred feet above them. Some of these sculptured marbles 
or alabasters preserved in the British Museum, afford proofs of 
the early use of limestones, marbles, and gypsums for carving 
and architecture. 

Sulphur mines, about eight miles from Mosul, contain a 
fine, compact, semi-crystalline sulphur, with beautiful crystals 
of citron-yellow and olive-green. The gypseous limestone, or 
Marble of Mosul, is largely developed to the east of Kerkuk, 
and southeast of Mosul, while the hills of Kirfir are covered 
with limestones enclosing Cyclades, and opposite Ali Dagh 
are wells of naphtha and petroleum issuing from calcareous 
rocks ; the whole region abounds in a great variety of minerals. 
The hills of Bozzan are formed of a hard, compact, fossil- 
iferous limestone resembling the Calcaire grossier of the Paris 
Basin. One hundred and forty miles from the Persian Gulf, 
the great rivers Euphrates and Tigris unite to form the Shat- 
el-Arab, at a place called Karmah, which the traditions of 
those regions assign as the site of the Garden of Eden. 

The valleys of these rivers have been, as has been stated, 
the graves of nations and cities whose wealth, power, and 
magnificence the sculptured records preserved in their ruins 
attest. . Nineveh, Babylon, Seleucia, and Ctesiphon represented 
great empires which have disappeared from the earth. 
Travellers bear testimony to the vastness and magnificence of 
the remains of these cities, while the carving and inscriptions 
on stone confirm the truth of history, both sacred and profane. 
It is said that the royal palace of Ctesiphon, the capital of the 
Parthian Empire, was a marvel of splendor and magnificence. 
The fagade was four hundred and fifty feet long and one hun- 
dred high, forming a span unequalled in size by any known 
architectural structure, and opening into an immense hall one 
hundred and sixty feet in height, with walls twenty-two feet 



244 LIMESTONES AND MARBLES. 

thick at the base. The palace of Nebuchadnezzar, in Babylon, 
was six miles in circumference, and surrounded by three 
walls. 

Marbles and alabasters were very liberally used in the more 
decorative portions of ancient buildings in all the ruined cities 
of this interesting region, in which alabaster is still very 
abundant, forming in the territory between Bagdad and Kur- 
distan entire hills of considerable size. 

The palace walls of Nineveh were of brick, covered with 
sculptured alabaster, and the walls of the Christian churches 
of the province of Mosul are ornamented with the same 
material. 

The modern town of Madin, a fortified place, stands upon a 
mountain of limestone, between the upper Tigris and the 
Euphrates. The new town, with its walls, is built on terraces 
on the side of the mountain, sixteen hundred feet from the 
plain, of a soft, white limestone similar to that of the Paris 
Basin. The old town occupied the summit, two thousand one 
hundred feet from the base. 

The Moslems have a tradition that the houris of Paradise 
come from Madin, and it claims the honor of being the centre 
of learning at the present day, as it was in ancient times, 
when it was called Mosius. 

The city is so strongly fortified that it was able to resist for 
three years the attacks of Tamerlarie. 



f 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

LIMESTONES OF ARABIA, PERSIA, AFGHANISTAN, BELOOCHIS- 
TAN, AND INDIA. 

I.Arabia. — Though portions of Arabia, consisting of a 
strip on the eastern shore of the Red Sea and the north- 
west coast of the Persian Gulf, belong to Turkey, the great 
central and southern districts are controlled by independent 
tribes of Arabs, whom conquering nations of antiquity or of 
later time have never been able to subdue. 

This native home of the Bedouin, consisting of barren 
deserts interspersed with fertile oases, has its mountains of 
limestone, rising in isolated peaks or scattered groups, often 
forming the borders of the table-land. The Nummulitic beds, 
which are developed on an immense scale to the north and 
east of Arabia, appear in the southeast on the Straits of 
Ormuz. In this region, writes Carter, there is an extent of 
one hundred and twelve miles of white limestone, succeeded 
by igneous rocks and every variety of serpentine. He classes 
the limestones in three groups, i. A soft breccia, composed 
of shells, corals, and igneous rocks of the Quaternary age : 

2. A compact, whitish limestone with shells of the Tertiary : 

3. A series including a compact shell limestone, a soft shell 
variety, and a beautiful white limestone resembling litho- 
graphic stone. 

Some of the fossils are analogous to those of the earlier 
formations, as AlveoHtes, others to those of a more recent 
age, as Orbitoides and Nummulites. The region to the south- 
west is volcanic. The city of Aden, held by Great Britain, is 
built in the centre of a nearly circular crater, one mile and a 

245 



246 LIMESTONES AND MARBLES. 

half in diameter, surrounded on three sides by a sea of lava, 
while the walls on the south are washed by the waters of the 
Gulf of Aden. The Island of Perim, a reef in the Straits of 
Bab-el-Mandeb, one and a half mile in length and half as wide, 
has become celebrated for the fossil bones of the Mastodon, 
Rhinoceros, Dinotherium, and other gigantic mammals. 

II. Persia. — With its eventful history, Persia forms one 
of the most remarkable countries of the eastern world, having 
survived alternate periods of extreme prosperity and corre- 
sponding degradation for nearly three thousand years ; it has 
been the scene of foreign invasions and domestic revolution, 
and the battle-ground of ambitious conquerors for dominion 
in the East. 

Though diversified in climate, its natural features are less 
interesting than those of many other regions of Asia ; it is 
covered by a network of rocky mountains, valleys destitute 
of streams, and vast salt or. sandy deserts, presenting a scene 
of indescribable desolation. 

The mountains of Persia are largely calcareous, and the 
same kind of rocks are prevalent in the islands of the Gulf. 
Kishma, the largest of these, displays rugged cliffs of lime- 
stone strata, while the hills of reddish rocks in the Island of 
Ormuz are covered with snow-white gypsum. The town of 
Ormuz, under the Portuguese, was a rich city and the centre 
of eastern trade, until, allured by its wealth, Abbas the Great, 
assisted by the English fleet, captured and plundered it. A 
few miles from the ruins, limestone cliff-s, eight hundred feet 
in height, present a bold and striking outline to the coast. 
The mountainous region from Dalaku to Shiraz, and thence 
to Ispahan, abounds in limestone and gypsum ; the former is 
compact, of gray and yellow shades ; the gypsum sometimes 
constitutes entire hills, or forms masses of fine alabaster. 
Hippurite limestone is spread out from Teheran towards the 
west, while Nummulitic limestone, to a greater or less extent, 
is developed throughout the kingdom. 



Plate XVIII. 




Alabastro Fasoato. 




ERECaA ROSSA. 



AkMSTROMI. t Co. LiTH. BoSTOH. 



LIMESTONES OF PERSIA. 24/ 

Though Devonian rocks form the axis of the Elburz Moun- 
tains, yet on the northern slope, and in the region of the 
Caspian, the Cretaceous and Tertiary series are displayed, 
and, united to the contemporary deposits of Arabia by the 
chain of the Zagros Mountains, near the shores of Lake 
Urumiah, they extend southeast towards the ancient city of 
Persepolis. 

There are few celebrated empires, says the historian of 
Persia, so poor in monuments of past greatness as this ancient 
kingdom, yet the few that remain are remarkable for mag- 
nificence and solidity. The absence of architectural relics 
is, undoubtedly, due to several causes; the principal reasons 
may have been the sweeping destruction of foreign invaders 
and the character of the ancient religion. A large part of 
the monuments of antiquity consisted of the tombs of heroes 
and rulers, and the temples, idols, and shrines of divinities. 
The ancient religion of Persia — fire-worship — employed 
neither images nor temples, properly speaking, which were 
merely buildings for the preservation of the sacred. fire, and 
neither cremation nor sepulture were sanctioned, though the 
precepts on this subject were not rigidly followed, as many 
of the kings and distinguished men were honored with mag- 
nificent mausoleums. 

The most extensive ruins are those of Persepolis, now 
Istakhar, which was built at the base of a mountain on an 
artificial terrace from twenty-five to fifty feet in height, over- 
looking an extensive plain. The ascent to this platform was 
by flights of marble steps, cut in huge blocks of sufficient 
size to contain from ten to fourteen steps in each block. At 
the upper landing-place stood a gigantic portal, with walls 
sculptured with colossal animals, while the paving between 
the walls was of polished marble. Several feet from this 
portal were placed four fluted columns, forty-five feet in height, 
supporting beautiful capitals, while beyond these was erected 
a second portal, adorned with carving. The sculptures of 
the staircases and portals are very profuse, and, in the opinion 



248 ♦ LIMESTONES AND MARBLES. 

of modern travellers, correct in design and delicate in finish. 
The figures are arranged in groups, some representing royal 
guards and attendants, others the people of different nations 
in a procession bearing offerings. ' They have been supposed 
to represent scenes in a religious festival in the time of Cyrus 
the Great or of Darius. 

The most remarkable remains are the " Columns," seventy- 
two in number, some standing, but the greater part lying 
prostrate. They belong, says Fraser, to two distinct orders, 
and are of different heights : some are sixty feet, with a shaft 
sixteen feet in circumference, fluted in fifty-two divisions ; the 
pedestals are in the form of the cup and leaf of the lotus, and 
the capitals are surmounted with the unicorn or double demi- 
bull ; others are fifty-five feet in height with different capitals. 
The object of these monuments is a problem ; it has been con- 
jectured that the Hall of Columns was consecrated to some 
solemn and religious purpose. The rock of the mountain 
near which the city was built, is a compact, gray marble, iden- 
tical with that of the ruins, and several half-finished blocks, 
cut in the same style, are still to be seen in the quarries. 

The tombs of the kings were cut in the mountain, and here 
the rulers of the Sassanian dynasty were buried ; a building of 
white marble near these tombs, thought to be an edifice for 
the sacred fire, has been called the Kaaba of Zoroaster. 

The monuments found at Persepolis have all the inscrip- 
tions in the cuneiform character, and are said to show great 
mechanical skill and exquisite taste. There are remains in 
the vicinity which prove that this ancient city was once 
prosperous and magnificent. Strabo speaks of Persepolis 
and Pasargadae as places held in honor by the Persians for 
their palaces, treasure-houses, wealth, and royal tombs. The 
latter city contained the mausoleum of Cyrus, with its gold 
coffin, gold couch, costly garments ornamented with precious 
stones, and other relics toattest the magnificence of his final 
resting-place. 

Alexander the Great set fire to the palace after having 



LIMESTONES OF PERSIA. 249 

plundered its treasures ; Antiochus, one hundred and sixty 
years after, attacked the city ; but it was not finally over^ 
thrown until the invasion by the Arabs, whose policy it was 
to destroy all the existing monuments and institutions of the 
Persian Empire. 

The antiquities in the pla'ins of Mourghab, about fifty miles 
north of Persepolis, are supposed to be of the same age ; they 
are called by the natives the Mosque of the Mother of 
Solomon. This structure, surrounded by twenty-four 
columns, rests on a base of white marble cut into colossal 
steps, ascending in the form of a pyramid. Near the plain of 
Keimanshah is an immense piece of sculpture which some 
antiquaries have considered to be a representation of 
Semiramis, the Assyrian heroine. Not far from this relic are 
fourteen figures representing persons, supposed to be Jews 
taken captive by the Assyrians. 

The remains belonging to the period of the Sassanian 
dynasty, that preceding the Moslem conquest, are of the 
Roman-Grecian school, and include the sculptures of Tauk e 
Bostam, which poetical and popular tradition have connected 
with the history of the sculptor Ferhaud and the beautiful 
Shireen. 

The remains of Shapoor, a very ancient city northwest of 
Shiraz, once the capital of Persia, covered a space six miles in 
circumference. The sculptures representing scenes in the 
history of the Empire are thought to commemorate the 
triumph of King Shapoor over the Roman Emperor Valerian. 
In the neighboring mountain occurs a remarkable prostrate 
statue, supposed to be that of Shapoor. 

The celebrated city of Shiraz, the birthplace of the poets 
Sadi and Hafiz, contains their tombs, and since the Mahom- 
medan conquest it has been regarded a sacred place, being 
embellished with several mosques and tombs of saints. 
Besides its sanctity, it makes pretensions to superior learning, 
having been called from early times the " Abiding-place of 
Science." 



250 LIMESTONES AND MARBLES. 

Many of the magnificent structures of Ispahan, formerly 
one of the "noblest capitals of the East," have fallen into 
decay. Among the existing relics of the glory of former 
days is a sumptuous palace called Chehel Sittoon, ** Hall of 
Columns," from one of the magnificent apartments in which 
the columns were inlaid with mirrors, so arranged as to be 
reflected in a sheet of clear water, while the walls and roof 
were decorated with mirrors and golden flowers. The re- 
mains of Imam Reza and Haroun al Raschid repose at 
Mushed, in Khorisan, in a magnificent mausoleum, decorated 
and enriched with gold, silver, marble, and lacquered tiles 
of the richest colors. A silver gate, the gift of Nadir Shah, 
opens into the chief apartment, while a branched candlestick 
of solid silver depends from the dome ; two lofty minarets in 
gold and azure tower above the splendid structure, and 
near by stands a very beautiful mosque. 

The region of Lake Urumiah or Urmiah, in the north- 
western part of Persia, is interesting hoth to the geologist and 
the historian. This sheet of water, known to the ancients as 
Lake Spauta or Martiana, is eighty miles long, and in some 
places thirty wide, with no visible outlet and but few streams 
flowing into it. Strabo speaks of it as a salt lake, as it is at 
the present time, but' makes no mention of the travertine 
deposited near. It is elevated four thousand feet above the 
Black Sea, and every spring it overflows its banks, leaving an 
extensive salt deposit, which reaches a considerable distance 
to the east of the lake. 

The town of Urumiah, on the west side of the lake, is claimed 
as the birthplace of Zoroaster, while Tabreez, on the east, 
was the favorite residence of the celebrated caliph, Haroun al 
Raschid. The country abounds in picturesque scenery, 
diversified by mountains and valleys, and it is in this vicinity, 
at a place called Maraga or Marangha, that the beautiful 
Tabreez marble or alabaster is deposited by mineral springs. 
The substance is similar, says Hitchcock, to that found 
at Tivoli, Italy, and resembles statuary marbl^ The Maraga 



LIMESTONES OF AFGHANISTAN AND BELOOCHISTAN. 25I 

and the Tivoli springs are the only ones forming marble 
known to this geologist. He is of the opinion that the 
Tabreez was deposited beneath deep waters when the 
temperature was higher than at present, but others have 
thought the depositions are constantly going on. It is said 
that the petrifying pool resembles frozen water, and a stone 
thrown into it breaks the crust, while the very bubbles on 
the surface are metamorphosed into marble. The rock contains 
ninety-six per cent of carbonate of lime, the remainder being 
iron and magnesia ; it is finely laminated, resembling, it has 
been stated, accumulated sheets of paper, is of a yellowish or 
light-blue color, perfectly compact, and so translucent, that, 
cut in thin slices, it is used for windows instead of glass. 
Immense quantities of this remarkable alabaster have been 
quarried and exported to various places. 

The Elburz Mountains in this part of the kingdom yield 
turquoise mines, from which the gem so much used in Persia 
is extracted. It is found in veins, in small pieces, under beds 
of limestone. 

III. Afghanistan and BeloocJiistan. — These countries 
occupy a region west of the Indus, known to ancient geog- 
raphers as Ariana, which was inhabited in the days of Alex- 
ander, as it is now, by warlike tribes who have never assimi- 
lated with the nations around them. Their country, lying 
between India, the tempting prize of conquerors, and western 
Asia and Europe, has frequently been overrun by devastating 
armies, but the fierce Afghans, with their sturdy independ- 
ence, have never been found an easy race to subdue. 

This region, like Persia, has barren deserts, which proved 
so formidable to Alexander during his march, and mountains 
with snow-covered peaks ; while, in some places, fertile plains 
yield a great variety and abundance of fruits and vegetables. 
The mountains of Beloochistan are formed largely of Num- 
mulitic limestones, which are used in construction of various 
kinds. In certain localities the walls of this formation con- 



252 LIMESTONES AND MARBLES. 

stitute natural fortifications of great height, presenting a grand 
appearance. TJiese limestones are generally of a deep-blue 
color, passing sometimes into gray or pale-yellow, and oc- 
casionally schistose with few fossils. The yellow variety often 
contains nodules of silex, simulating the spots of a tiger's skin, 
affording a marble suitable for sculpture. This may be the 
same as the ancient Tigrato, seen in the Vatican Museum. 
The natives can hardly be supposed to have been skilled in 
the arts, but it might have been an article of traffic with the 
Greeks, and possibly the Romans, who used it for sculpture. 

Limestones of the Cretaceous period, enclosing fossils allied 
to Nummulites, are comprised among the calcareous rocks of 
Beloochistan. They, are of great thickness, and include a fine- 
grained, red variety with white bands, and a dark-blue with 
lead ore ; the banded encloses Foraminifers and is widely dis- 
seminated. Geologists have thought that Triassic rocks 
occur near Kelat, since Ceratites and Orthoceratites have been 
found in that region. 

The Nummulitic formation is developed at Cabool and other 
places in Afghanistan. The Kandahar and Shah Maksud 
Ranges, according to Griesbach, are formed of Cretaceous 
limestone and eruptive rooks ; the limestones, folded, and 
raised into dome-like masses, belong to the Hippurite forma- 
tion, and are changed in places to crystalline marble. A 
white crystalline limestone, with red portions, is used at Kan- 
dahar for marble, as seen in the shrines and buildings of that 
city, especially the tomb of Ahmed Shah. The Cretaceous 
rocks of Kandahar are important in determining the age of 
the mountain ranges in the region. 

The Bolan Pass, separating Sind from the southern part of 
Afghanistan, is a frightful chasm, seventy miles in length, 
flanked by lofty rocks, which consist mostly of Nummulitic 
limestone, presenting in its grandest display eleven thousand 
feet. The lower portion is light-gray ; the upper, reddish or 
reddish-brown. This pass has become memorable in modern 
history for the terrible calamity which befell the British army 



LIMESTONES OF AFGHANISTAN AND BELOOCHISTAN. 2^3 

during the retreat from Cabool, in 1842, in which more than 
sixteen thousand persons perished, and only one officer sur- 
vived. The retreat has been considered the most disastrous 
and appaUing on record. 

In some parts of Afghanistan, cliffs of perfectly white 
Nummulitic limestone form escarpments five thousand five 
hundred feet high, looking like a wall of snow, and at the 
Maiwand Pass is developed a beautiful, fine-grained, crystal- 
line limestone with red spots, and enclosing granite. The 
Afghan Tertiary group is said to resemble the flysch of 
Europe in lithological character. The Gaj group of Sind, in 
India, principally Eocene, enclosing bright-colored gypsum 
clays, passes into Beloochistan and Afghanistan, where it 
covers a large area. 

Ghuznee, the famous capital of the ** mighty Mahmud," 
the Napoleon of the East, affords some relics of its former 
magnificence. It contains the mausoleum of Mahmud, but 
the Palace of Felicity, the mosque called the Celestial Bride, 
and the splendid baths, colleges, and other noble buildings 
with which this conqueror embellished his capital, are now a 
mass of ruins. 

Cabool contains the tomb of Baber, the founder of the 
Mogul empire of India, whose life has seldom been surpassed 
in romantic and varied fortunes. 

Upon the north slope of the Himalayas, on the high table- 
land of Thibet, elevated more than ten thousand feet above 
sea-level, the Nummulitic formation has an extensive develop- 
ment, and it is thought that the Devonian and Jurassic sys- 
tems are also represented in the country of the Grand Lama. 

A gray dolomite without fossils forms a part of the Kuen- 
Lun Mountains, between Thibet and Turkistan, and in the lat- 
ter country shell limestones occur. A part of Turkistan or 
Bokhara, an extensive country occupying the central portion 
of Northwestern Asia, belongs to China, and a part is gov- 
erned by independent tribes under the nominal control of 
Russia. It comprises elevated table-lands, interspersed by 
sandy deserts and crossed by lofty ranges of mountains. 



254 LIMESTONES AND MARBLES. 

IV. India. — The rock systems of this very ancient and 
productive country afford an interesting study to the geologist, 
and offer an extensive field for the future investigator, as 
many of its highest mountains have been only partially 
explored. They embrace deposits of nearly every period, from 
the earliest to the present epoch, some of which are peculiar 
to this region. 

The great plain in the north, watered by the Indus on the 
west and the Ganges on the east, with their tributaries, is 
alluvial, of recent date. Regur, or Black Cotton Clay, is a 
characteristic deposit of India, covering a third of the southern 
part, more especially the elevated plateau of Deccan, includ- 
ing Hyderabad, Nagpore, and south of the Mahratta country, 
forming vast plains in the south-central part of India. It is 
generally black, greenish, or deep-gray, and consists of silica, 
alumina, lime, magnesia, iron, and water, enclosing fresh-water 
shells. Clark is of the opinion that Regur is composed mostly 
of lime and iron ; it is probable that it varies in composition. 
It is said to resemble the Nile mud, but more closely the Black 
Earth of Russia, and is adapted to the cultivation of cotton, 
whence the name. 

Kunker, a typical rock of India, and more ancient than 
Regur or Black Earth, is a concretionary or tufaceous carbon- 
ate of lime, usually occurring in nodules from one-half an inch 
to three or four inches in diameter, and on the exterior is 
mixed with clay. It is of a compact structure, like the traver- 
tine of Rome, with the interior sometimes cellular, but differs 
from recent deposits in the absence of fossils ; the color is a 
clear brown, reddish, or ash-gray, and, owing to the presence 
of silica, some of it is very hard. Both chemical and mechan- 
ical agencies were employed in its formation. 

It is quite generally distributed, and is quarried for building- 
stone and for the manufacture of lime. The Kunker, near 
Mysore, in the southern part, is a kind of siliceous breccia, 
semi-opal, and called by the natives Assuhar. 

Laterite, or iron clay, is widely spread throughput India, but 



LIMESTONES OF INDIA. 255 

nothing like it occurs in Europe. It consists, in great part, of 
peroxide of iron, with some alumina, lime, Magnesia, and silica ; 
is soft when first quarried, but hardens after exposure to the 
air, and sometimes resembles jasper in appearance. The rock 
is traversed by irregular tubes filled with clay, and presents a 
reticulated structure, which" gave rise to the tradition among 
the natives that it was composed of an accumulation of giants' 
bones. It has erroneously been thought to be volcanic, while 
the presence of paleolithic human implements is evidence of 
recent origin. The summits of the Raymehal Hills, on the 
Ganges, is composed of laterite sufficiently compact to be 
employed for building-stone, of which ancient forts and tem- 
ples were constructed. 

Although there is a large development in India, of recent 
strata, some of the rocks are considered pre-Silurian, or Paleo- 
zoic, notwithstanding the absence of all marine fossils in the 
peninsula, older than the Jurassic, since these may have been 
obliterated by metamorphism ; there are evidences, it is claimed, 
that this region was free from disturbances during Paleozoic 
time. In most countries the transition of organic remains 
from one type to another is gradual, but here, on the contrary, 
it is abrupt. 

The older, unfossiliferous rocks, consisting of gneiss, trap, 
schist, and certain limestones, have an extensive range ; a 
series with sandstones, shales, and limestones, forming a sub- 
ordinate member, constitute the Vindhyan Mountains, which 
separate the central provinces from the northwest, and have 
given the name to this formation. 

The rock systems of the peninsula and the extra-peninsula 
of India are essentially different in character. It has been 
said that there are no traces of marine. Carboniferous strata in 
the peninsula, but in the northwest the limestones of the 
Salt Range enclose the characteristic fossils of the period, an 
evidence that these mountains were underwater in the Paleo- 
zoic era. Dr. Waagen claims to have found Ammonites and 
Ceratites, fossils of the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods, in 
the Carboniferous limestones of India. 



256 LIMESTONES AND MARBLES. 

In the region of Simla, a town in the northwest, occurs 
an unfossiliferous limestone, called the Krol formation from 
the Krol Mountains, formerly referred to the Triassic, but 
assigned by later examinations to the Carboniferous period ; 
the Blaini group, in the vicinity, includes a magnesian lime- 
stone. 

Tertiary rocks form the greater part of Sind, on the lower 
Indus, though the Trias has a limited representation, and in 
the Laki Range Cretaceous hmestone with Hippurites occurs 
analogous to this formation existing in Persia. Beds of fos- 
siliferous limestone form a part of the Banikot group, but the 
Kirtha, Nummulitic formation, constitutes the representative 
limestone of this region, including several varieties known as 
the Kirtha limestone, with a thickness ranging from a few 
hundred to two thousand, or three thousand feet, and extend- 
ing northward into Beloochistan, where it is well displayed 
near Kelat. A variety with Nummulites, called the Nari 
limestone, for a river in Sind, constitutes a formation from 
one to ten miles wide, running parallel with the Kirtha, -though 
differing from it. The fortified town of Hyderabad, the chief 
city of the principality, is built on a low range of Hmestone 
hills forming the east bank of the Indus. 

The Gaj group, in the northwestern part of Sind, receives 
the name from the only river which has cut a channel through 
the Kirtha Mountains, from Beloochistan ; the fossiliferous 
limestones of the group, considered Eocene, extend to Cutch 
on the south. 

Throughout Sind marine and terrestrial deposits alternate ; 
and it is claimed t^at the Tertiary rocks form, in this princi- 
pality, a more complete series than in any other place in 
northwest India. The Salt Range affords a remarkable series 
of formations, from the older Paleozoic to the later Tertiary, 
embracing, under the general term of Hill limestone, varieties 
of different periods, including a fossiliferous limestone of the 
Jurassic, another enclosing Ceratites, of the Triassic, a mag- 
nesian, Carboniferous, and a Nummulitic variety of the Ter- 



LIMESTONES OF INDIA. 257 

tiary, with the Para and Teling limestones. The Carbon- 
iferous is full of Cephalopods, Brachiopods, Bryozoans, and 
Crinoids, resembling in its general features the Mountain 
limestone of Great Britain. The Para or Rhaetic formation 
is a black dolomite, strongly bituminous, enclosing fossils sim> 
ilar to those of the St. Cassian series ; above this formation 
rests the Teling limestone, two thousand feet thick, of dark 
colors, often bituminous, enclosing remains like those of the 
Para, among which the Avicula contorta is the most charac- 
acteristic fossil ; both these formations occur in the upper 
Trias, or between the Trias and the Lias. It is said that 
there are found in the Teling, Liassic fossils not known to 
exist in any other formation in India. 

The Jurassic series occurs in the Punjab, in the western 
Himalayas, and in Thibet. The Punjab, watered by the upper 
Indus, was formerly the dominion, of the powerful Sheik, 
Runjeet Singh, but, like Sind, it is now under the jurisdiction 
of Great Britain. Including the Nummulitic limestone, the 
Tertiary rocks of this country have been estimated to com- 
prise twenty-five thousand feet of strata, but only two thou- 
sand or three thousand of the lowest .contain marine fossils. 
In the northern part of the province, an eminence called the 
Hill of Nummulitic Limestone is composed of a dark, massive 
rock with nodular bands. 

The Valley of Cashmere, immortalized by the poet for its 
roses and fountains, its temples and grottoes, is elevated from 
six thousand to seven thousand feet above the sea, and is 
formed of limestones and dolomites, representing the Silurian, 
Carboniferous, and Triassic periods. 

The upper Tertiary, called the Siwalik group, claimed to 
be chiefly a fresh-water deposit, distributed over an extensive 
area, affords, in the Himalayas, an interesting collection of 
fossil mammalia, analogous to those found in some parts of 
Greece ; forty-five genera and eighty-four species had been 
discovered up to the time of the Geological Survey by Medli- 
cott and Blanford, 1879. The shells of land and fresh-water 



2 5'S LIMITS TONICS AND MARBLES. 

ori{^nn arc all represented by living; species. Jiy far the i;reater 
part of the collections wei'c obtained from the lower .Siwalik, 
called the Nahan l;i()11[), and on this account <;i"c;at importance 
is attached to the Nahan area. 

It is tiioLight that the foldings and contortions of the Him- 
alayas were effected since the lower Tertiary, though the area 
of this range was land at a much earlier period, and the 
frequent occurrence of earthquakes in this region is regarded 
as evidence that the interior forces which produced these 
stupendous results are still active. Owing to the difficulty 
of exploring them, scientific knowledge of the Himalayas is, 
at present, meagre ; but so far as is known they exhibit, says 
Medlicott, more regulaiily of structuie Ihan the Alps. 

The Sub-Himalayas, forming the southern belt, is composed 
of a soft, Tertiary sandstone of the same age as tlie molasse 
of the Alps. Between this low iaii!;c and the great snow- 
capped chain, there lies an area fifty miles in width, consist- 
ing of irregular ranges from five thousand to twelve thousand 
feet in height, largely made up of crystalline, metamorphic 
rocks, while the lofty Himalayas are composed, to a great 
extent, of gneiss and fossiliferous strata, the latter presenting 
an instance of the wonderful rock-producing power of organ- 
ized beings. 

Silurian, Carboniferous, Permian, Jurassic, and Triassic 
fossils are said to exist in the central Himalayas, but it is a 
question whethei- the Nunnniililic foi mat ion was ever 
developed along the southern slope, since geologists have 
found no vestige of this well-nigh universal limestone in the 
Sub-Himalayas of tlic middle region. The discoveiy of the 
Siwalik fossils places this chain in the Tertiary rather than 
the Secondary era, to which it had been previously assigned. 

Nniiiiniiliiic beds are found in the Assam Range, in the 
northeastern part of India, extending through Burmah and 
Tenasserim to Sumatra, Java, and other islands . of the 
Malay Archipelago. The impenetrable forests of Burmah 
and Assam seriously obstruct geological investigations in those 



LIMESTONES OF INDIA. 259 

countries, while the mctamorphic character of the strata 
renders it difficult to assign them to their proper eras ; the 
same impediments are met with east and north of the Bay of 
Bengal. The upper Tertiary of Burmah and Assam are all, 
with few exceptions, fresh-water deposits, but the lower Ter- 
tiary arc marine, represented by the Nummulitic limestone, 
whicli, in Aiauhnain, is thought to be not less than ten thou- 
sand feet thick ; Cretaceous and Carboniferous limestones are 
less abundant. The most valuable and productive ruby mines 
known are found in the Shan States, northeast of Ava. Bur- 
mah is rich in mineral productions, including a variety of 
rocks, fossil-wood, and gems of great value It yields a 
beautiful dark serpentine, with bronzite and veins of gold- 
colored crysotile, resembling the gabbro of Europe ; the rock 
passes into green stone, forming hills covered with luxuriant 
forests. A fine, white or greenish sandstone, containing 
fossils, and called by the natives Image Stone, is used for 
carving images of Buddha, The beds of fossil-wood found in 
Pegu are considered the remains of a formation whith covered 
an extensive area, and which still covers a large part of 
northern Pro me. 

Tertiary rocks surround the extinct volcano Puppa, three 
thousand feet in height, with a summit of ash-breccia, and the 
sides marked by streams of lava enclosing fine crystals of 
pyroxene and porphyry. The mud volcanoes of Arracan and 
Burmah are numerous ; the best known are on the Irrawadi 
and the islands of the coast ; those of Rami eject stones, 
flames, and sometimes inflammable gas, which often takes fire 
and lights up the country for miles. 

The Karmul formation of the lower Vindliyan Moun- 
tains includes a fine crystalline limestone, and a sandstone 
quarried for diamonds ; above the diamond-bearing strata 
rests the Planad limestone, taking the name of the district 
where it is found. The i)r()vince of Bundelkund, in north- 
central India, yields limestones of variable composition. 
The Kaimer conglomerate is everwhere conspicuous for its 



260 LIMESTONES AND MARBLES. 

bright-red jasper pebbles, ''which present the appearance of 

a tulip-bed." 

None of the rocks of Cutch and the adjoining islands are 
older than the Jurassic ; the limestones include a variety with 
Trigonia. The Golden Oolite, resembling gold-colored mica, 
belongs to the Chari beds of Cutch ; it is composed of calca- 
reous particles coated with a thin, ferruginous layer cemented 
by cai-bonate of lime. Jurassic beds are found in the great 
desert north of Cutch, called the Run of Cutch, including the 
Jesalmir limestones, forming the escarpment near the town of 
Jesalmir. The Nummulitic and Gaj limestones of Sind pen- 
etrate this province ; Miliolite beds, resembling those of the 
Paris Basin, are developed in Kattywar, south of Sind. 

The geologists of India have noticed a remarkable de- 
ficiency of marine fossils of the Paleozoic and Mesozoic 
formations in the Indian peninsula; with few exceptions, 
there are no marine deposits older than the Cretaceous, and 
these are found only in two areas widely separated, one in the 
neighborhood of Pondicherry and Trichinopoly in the south, 
and the other in the Nerbudda valley in the west, both yield- 
ing fine specimens of fossils. The Pondicherry formation 
includes the Utatur coral limestone, enclosing nearly three 
hundred species of invertebrates ; the Trichinopoly lime- 
stones, filled with the remains of Gasteropods and Lamelli- 
branchs remarkably well preserved, with their original polish 
and sometimes color, extensively quarried for ornamental uses 
under the name of Trichinopoly ; and the Arialur group in 
which the remains of a Megalosaurus have been found. 

The city of Pondicherry, belonging to the French, is, like 
Madras, built upon movable sand filled with shells, used for 
the manufacture of lime, and environed, in part, by diamond- 
bearing limestones. Trichinopoly is an inland fortified town, 
on the river Cauvery, near which was erected the largest and 
most splendid pagoda of all India. 

A large part of the presidency of Madras rests upon 
marine clay, filled with shells, quarried for decoration, in 



LIMESTONES OF INDIA. 26l 

imitation of the beautiful marbles found in temples and other 
buildings. 

There is, it is said, a striking resemblance between the 
fauna of the Cretaceous beds of Trichinopoly and some other 
parts of India, with those of South Africa, but a marked 
difference between those of South India and the Nerbudda 
valley on the northwest coast, which develops the Bagh 
group, inclosing most of the fossils. The discovery of Cre- 
taceous fossils in this region was due to the blocks of lime- 
stone containing analogous remains found in the ruins of 
a towm near by. The Bagh series includes a coralline lime- 
stone, employed for buildings, composed mainly of shells and 
fragments of Br}^ozoa, giving it a mottled appearance, and 
several other varieties, including a nodular limestone of con- 
siderable extent. The Bagh fossils are very imperfect, and 
resemble those found in Arabia. Nummulitic limestone 
occurs at Serat, south of the Cretaceous groups of the 
Nerbudda valley. 

The volcanic series is one of the most prominent and wide- 
spread of all the rock systems of the Indian peninsula ; it is 
called the Deccan trap, a term of broad significance, includ- 
ing a great variety of igneous rocks. This great central 
region, called the Deccan, is distinguished for peculiar 
scener}^, represented as composed of great undulating plains 
intersected by flat-topped hills and elevated terraces, often 
presenting escarpments four thousand feet high. Vegetation 
partakes of the same exceptional character, indicated by long 
grass and very few trees. From November to June nearly 
all plants are dry, and the country presents a desolate picture 
of black soil, bare rocks, and withered trees ; but when the 
rainy season begins vegetation springs into life, clothing the 
barren earth with a vesture of green, that forms an agreeable 
contrast with the dark-colored rocks. Combined with the 
rocks of the Deccan is a small group of calcareous eruptive 
strata, called the Lameta limestone. 

South of the Deccan area crystalline limestones, mostly 



262 LIMESTONES AND MARBLES. 

magnesiari, form beds of great thickness, seen in pro- 
jecting cliffs standing out in bold outline and displaying the 
grandest scenes in the prospect. The old hill fort, east of 
Goa, one of the numerous strongholds of the Mahratta tribes, 
stands on one of the most prominent masses of these lime- 
stones ; the neighboring cliffs, with the huge blocks detached 
from the mass and precipitated into the valley below, render 
the site of this fortress one of great wildness and picturesque 
beauty. 

Tertiary rocks cover but a small part of the peninsula, and 
are mostly confined to a narrow strip on the coast ; they 
are different from those of Western Asia or Europe. Human 
implements, supposed to belong to the Pleistocene period, 
have been found in the valleys of this part of India. 

The Bhima formation consists chiefly of unfossiliferous lime- 
stones of different colors, largely used in building. It was em- 
ployed exclusively for the ancient fortified city of Ferozabad, 
of the fourteenth century, for buildings in other places, some- 
times for windows, and for stone implements, by the early in- 
habitants. 

The Talikot limestones of the Bhima series are largely 
lithographic, of fine texture and waxy lustre, and display nearly 
all the colors found in limestones, including cream-color, gray, 
buff, pink, purple, and varieties banded with pink, purple, and 
cream-color. The formation reaches a thickness of six hun- 
dred feet, and is liable to subsidences and landslides, which, 
disrupting the rocks, afford material for the remarkable tufa- 
breccias and conglomerates found near it. The limestone is 
extensively quarried, and was used for buildings in the city of 
Talikot. 

Limestones, jasper conglomerates of a great variety of col- 
ors, and breccias composed of jasper and hematite schist in a 
purple cement, are met with between the Krishna and Mal- 
prabha rivers. The limestones of the Ghatpralha valley dis- 
play as great a variety of colors as the Talikot group ; some 
of the beds enclose spar, used for carving ornaments. 



Plate XIX. 




Lisbon. 




Rosso Brecciato. 



AkMiTBOMO It Co. Lit*. Bocroa. 



LIMESTONES OF INDIA. 263 

The Yadward valley is especially prolific rn limestones, 
the best varieties being found in the vicinity of Warrutsgul. 
They are of different colors, comprising a species of delicate 
veins of malachite, and a breccia with crystals of red feldspar 
embedded in a purple ground, yielding a beautiful stone. 

Many of the limestones of the Lower Kaladgi are capable 
of a high polish, forming marbles of great beauty and value. 
The mountain slopes east of Goa afford dolomites, which may 
have furnished some of the marbles for the Portuguese 
churches and monasteries of this small province. The lime- 
stones of Travancore, a British dependency in the south, 
belong to the Tertiary, and are full of fossils later than the 
Nummulitic formation. 

India, developing so many limestone formations, contains 
some noted caverns, either natural or artificial ; the most cel- 
ebrated are those of EUora and Elephanta. The latter occurs 
on a small island near Bombay, named for a huge figure of 
an elephant carved in stone, and consists of Hindoo temples 
cut in the rock, with roofs supported by columns, and filled 
with numerous sculptures. The cavern of Billa Soorgum, in 
the south, opening into a diamond-yielding limestone, is 
capable of being converted into a genuine Aladdin's Cave. 

Ancient Jain temples, excavated in reddish-yellow sand- 
stone, with elaborate carving, are found at Aiholi and other 
places. 

The rulers of this venerable country, the mother of eastern 
civilization, embellished their capitals with magnificent temples 
for . the numerous divinities recognized in their religious 
system. Asaca, one of the kings of Magada, the birthplace 
of Buddha, erected what are called the Edict Columns at 
Delhi, upon which are inscribed his orders for establishing 
hospitals and dispensaries, and for planting trees and digging 
wells along the highways, thus showing the advanced civiliza- 
tion of this kingdom long before the Christian era. These 
inscriptions, with those on other pillars, caves, and rocks, 
were not understood, either by natives or Europeans, until 



264 LIMESTONES AND MARBLES. 

recently; they are now considered to be in the Pali lan- 
guage. 

Ruins east of Nepaul indicate the site of the ancient city of 
Panchola, whose magnificence has been the admiration of both 
Mahommedan and native writers. 

Elphinstone, in his History of India, mentions the splen- 
dor and magnitude of Buddhist temples ; of these the cave 
temples, especially at EUora, are specimens, but the finest 
is at Carla, between Puna and Bombay ; these structures, 
for length, height, colonnades, and vaulted and ribbed roofs 
strongly resemble Gothic cathedrals. 

The temples of the Jains, one of the Hindoo sects, are, 
writes this author, generally large and handsome, with courts, 
colonnades, and statues of saints, marble altars, sculptures in 
relief, and walls painted with legendary scenes. The finest 
specimens of Jain temples are seen in the remains of White 
marble on the mountain of Abu, to the north of Guzerat. 
The Jains have their cave temples on a grand scale in various 
places, and at Chinrapatan, in Mysore, there exists the statue 
of one of their saints variously estimated at from fifty-four to 
seventy feet in height. The Sultan Mahmud of Guznee, in 
his conquests in India, destroyed or pillaged many of the rich 
and splendid Hindoo temples, carrying off immense treasures 
to enrich his capital. The fortified temple of Nargarcot, on 
the Himalayas, regarded with peculiar veneration, enriched by 
the • offerings of kings and princes, and the repository of 
immense riches, was robbed by this conqueror in one of his 
numerous expeditions, of a vast amount of silver, gold, pearls, 
and precious stones. The most celebrated temple was 
Somnat, in the peninsula of Guzerat, which Mahmud 
plundered in the beginning of the eleventh century. It is 
said that there were from two hundred thousand to three 
hundred thousand native offerings presented in this temple 
during every eclipse, and that two thousand priests, three 
hundred musicians, and five hundred dancing women were 
employed in the service of Somnat ; the golden chain attached 



LIMESTONES OF INDIA. 265 

to the bell used in worship has been valued at one hundred 
thousand pounds. The ruthless invaders were struck with awe 
at the grandeur of the interior, whose lofty roof was supported 
by fifty-six pillars curiously carved, and decorated with 
precious stones. Immense treasures, far exceeding those 
taken from any other temple, were carried off. 

Ahmedabad owes its magnificent buildings to Ahmed Shah, 
whose zeal prompted him to pull down the temples and erect 
mosques in their places. Delhi, the favorite capital of the 
greater part of the Mogul emperors, was, from time to time, 
embellished by these magnificent rulers, Firuz built a 
splendid mosque of polished marble on the Jumna, while other 
rulers, before and since his reign, in the fourteenth century^ 
added to the beauty of this city ; but many of the buildings are 
in ruins. Akber, perhaps the most celebrated of the Mogul 
rulers, took great pleasure in constructing grand works at 
Agra, Allahabad, and Futtehpur ; the remains of the latter 
are among the most splendid in India, He adorned Agra 
with a beautiful mosque and palace of Vv'hite marble, and many 
other structures ; but none of the emperors exceeded Shah 
Jehan in his passion for splendid buildings. The grandeur 
of the cities during his prosperous reign, and the pomp and 
magnificence of his court, were the admiration of travellers 
from all countries. 

The Hindoos seem, says Elphinstome, to have had an early 
acquaintance with the principles of architecture. They used 
twelve kinds of mouldings, some of which are employed at the 
present time, and sixty-four sorts of bases, but they had no 
fixed orders. Their style resembled the Egyptian only in 
its massiveness and profusion of sculpture, but, unlike the 
Egyptian, their columns were generally high, slender, deli- 
cate, and thickly set ; clustered columns and pilasters were 
of frequent occurrence. Architectural embellishments were 
employed, and the walls of buildings were covered with 
sculptures in relief, representing the wars of the gods and 
other legends. 



CHAPTER XIX. 

LIMESTONES OF JAPAN, AUSTRALIA, AND AFRICA. 

I. Japan. — The Empire of Japan, with a length of nine 
hundred miles, and an area of less than two hundred thousand 
square miles, comprises between three thousand and four 
thousand islands, some large and others exceedingly small. 
It is very mountainous, being traversed its entire length by 
a lofty range crossed by steep passes elevated from one thou- 
sand to five thousand feet above sea-level. In the deep 
ravines and valleys of the range, nestle numerous small 
villages, secluded from the rest of the world. Many of the 
highest peaks are volcanoes, either active, or extinct ; Fuji- 
yama, in the Island of Hondo, the most conspicuous of these, 
is thirteen thousand feet high, with a crater five hundred feet 
deep, and is overspread nearly to the summit with cultivated 
tracts and a belt of prairie land, while above them there lies a 
vast region covered with a great variety of forest trees. 

Calcareous rocks are more or less abundant throughout the 
islands, though the granitic and volcanic series are the most 
prevalent. Granite was used in the construction of some of the 
fortresses of the Empire, and furnished the huge blocks of the 
castle-walls of Osaka, which are nearly, if not quite equal to 
the largest in the 'great pyramid of Cheops, measuring, accord- 
ding to the judgment of Sir E. J. Reed, forty feet in length 
and twenty in height. 

The Island of Yesso, or Yezo, is traversed from north to 
south, through the centre, by the Hamaikotan group, supposed 
266 



LIMESTONES OF JAPAN. * 26/ 

to contain the oldest rocks on the island. They are crystal- 
line and metamorphic, embracing limestones with Carbonif- 
erous fossils, grayish-white marbles, and dark-green, brown, 
and black serpentines ; the group is rich in precious metals, 
and quartz crystals. The coal-beds of Yesso, over which are 
scattered nodules or balls -of lim.estones, enclosing the fossils 
of the Carboniferous period, have an enormous development. 
The volcanoes rest on strata including limestones, and in 
the western part of the island the rocks are largely made 
up of tufa conglomerates. It is the opinion of geologists 
that both this island and Niphon or Hondo were elevated 
at a late period, and that volcanic action took place before 
the upheaval. 

A large development of metamorphic limestones occurs on 
a small stream in the southeast, forming cliffs on both sides, 
six hundred feet above the water, extending for miles. The 
formation yields dark-blue and light-gray limestones, enclosing 
beds of marble. East of Hakodate a limestone cliff of less 
height presents a front of eight hundred feet, and limestone 
forms the coast strata of this part of the island. Fossils, 
supposed to be Jurassic or Cretaceous, have b.een discovered 
in eastern Yesso. 

Marbles for ornamental purposes are quarried at different 
places, and a breccia of dark-red, deep-yellow, grayish-white, 
and black, constituting a marble resembling a Sicilian variety, 
is cut into large balls and polished. 

The famous limpid quartz crystals of Japan are found in 
the veins of a decomposing granite near the village of Mitke, 
where they are quarried. The ball exhibited at the Vienna 
Exposition is claimed to be the largest ever made from these 
quarries. 

Japan, like other countries which sanction the worship of 
numerous divinities, contains a great many temples, shrines, 
and pagodas, but wood was largely employed in their con- 
struction, and the palaces of earlier times were rude structures 
without any architectural merits. In later years, however, 



268 LIMESTONES AND MARBLES. 

the emperors built immense and splendid edifices, which may 
become durable monuments of the magnificence and glory of 
their reigns. The power and audacity of the priests of the 
Buddhist temples, which were marvels of wealth and splendor, 
led to the destruction of their vast monastery near Lake Biwa, 
with its five hundred temples, shrines, and priestly dwellings. 
The celebrated Tokugawa temples and shrines were begun 
in the time of one of the Shoguns, who flourished at the begin- 
ning of the seventeenth century. Miss Bird, in " Travels in 
Japan," mentions a Buddhist town with two streets of temples 
adorned with grand gateways and paved courts. More ancient 
and more renowned for sanctity are the Shinto temples of Is^, 
built in the fifth century, but, like all the sacred buildings of 
this sect, they are very plain. 

The Loo Choo, a group of small islands south of Japan, and 
a dependency of the Chinese Empire, develop a limestone 
formation which appears as belts or dykes crossing the islands, 
and rising into peaks with castellated forms, sometimes sev- 
enty or eighty feet above the ridge, constituting a marked 
feature in the landscape. The Hmestone is sometimes fossil- 
iferous, and on. account of its cellular structure has frequently' 
been taken for lava ; a recent formation, comprising pebbles 
and fragments of corals in a lime cement, constitutes a com- 
pact breccia. These islands yield the precious and many of 
the common metals, coal, jaspers, agates, corals, and pearls. 

IL Australia. — Australia, the El Dorado of the Southern 
Hemisphere, though nearly of the size of Europe, is histor- 
ically the youngest of the continents, and portions of its 
territory still await the investigations of the geologist. It is 
supposed to have a mean elevation of about five hundred feet 
less than any other grand division, while the arid plains of the 
central region attain no greater height than two hundred 
feet. 

Its highest mountains, the Australian Alps, on the south- 
eastern coast, vary from five thousand to six thousand five 



LIMESTONES OF AUSTRALIA. 269 

hundred feet, while the height of the elevations on the west- 
ern and southern borders is much less. The northeastern 
shores, on the Coral Sea, are guarded by the Great Barrier 
Reefs. 

The rock systems are believed to include nearly every 
formation above the Cambrian. The Silurian strata, the 
most important for their mines of wealth, cover a very large 
area, and are found in all the colonies except West Australia ; 
they are intersected by auriferous . quartz veins, and have 
supplied immense quantities of the precious metal. Since 
the discovery of these deposits, Australian geologists have 
estimated the yield to be more than one billion of dollars 
worth of gold, besides other metalliferous ores and diamonds. 
In Victoria they include several limestone formations, and are 
highly fossihferous, but in the other colonies they contain few 
organic remains. 

In the Waratah Bay district, limestones and marble desti- 
tute of fossils have been found, either Lower Devonian or 
Upper Silurian, probably the latter ; the marble is black and 
white, mottled or veined, and suitable for ornamental work. 
The limestone, occupying massive beds, is called the purest 
and finest in Victoria. 

The limestones of Buchan and Bindi form scattered patches 
varying in extent from some miles to only a few acres, depos* 
ited in the hollows of porphyry. As they enclose fossils 
identical with those of the Eifel of Germany, they are sup- 
posed to belong to the Devonian. The Buchan formation, 
named for the place where it is more especially developed 
with the Snowy River porphyry, yields a dark, compact lime- 
stone, penetrated by numerous caverns or "sink holes," as at 
a place called the Pyramids, where the Murendel River 
disappears, and then reappears at some distance off. 

The Bindi limestone occupies an area of ten square miles, 
and is second in extent to the Buchan. The Bindi Basin is 
said to present one of the most charming views of mountain 
scenery in Gippsland, where the rock has been sculptured 



270 LIMESTONES AND MARBLES. 

into gently-swelling hills with smooth, green slopes, enclosed 
by mountains of granite, quartz, porphyries, and slates, with 
rugged peaks and bold escarpments. 

The Tertiary of Gippsland develops the Bairnsdale lime- 
stone, displayed in precipitous banks on Mitchell River, 
and spread over a wide area west of this river, reaching a 
thickness of two hundred and fifty feet. A limestone of this 
period, called the Portland stone (Jurassic), resembles a 
formation in New Zealand used for architectural carving. 

Several varieties of limestones are found among the Coal 
Measures of the Cape Otway district, in the southern part of 
Victoria; and in New South Wales the coal-beds rest on 
a limestone with fossils supposed to be Carboniferous. A 
fresh-water limestone of Victoria is called the Geelong 
formation. 

It is estimated that this colony contains not less than two 
hundred and sixty square miles covered by volcanic rocks ; 
the northeastern portion, it is thought, was once overspread 
with a continuous sheet of lava, but the process of denuda- 
tion has left mountains nearly six thousand feet high, ruins 
of a former great plateau, standing out in solitary grandeur 
like the isolated castles and fortresses of mediaeval Europe. 

Victoria, which has been more thoroughly explored than 
the other colonies, develops a great variety of rcJcks, includ- 
ing several valuable building-stones, and numerous species of 
minerals ; one indefatigable collector gathered in a single 
year between five hundred and six hundred different species. 
Nearly a dozen varieties of limestones have been analyzed, 
and their economic value established, though the auriferous, 
Silurian rocks surpass all others in this respect on account of 
their rich deposits. 

Cretaceous rocks are spread over the vast areas of Queens- 
land in the east, and West Australia in the west regions of the 
Continent. What is called the Desert Sandstone, believed 
to be Tertiary, and to have covered at one time the larger 
part of Australia, has an extensive development in Queens- 



LIMESTONES OF AUSTRALIA. 2/1 

land, and, perhaps, in other colonies. Within a few years an 
exploring party, starting from the western coast and pene- 
trating to the centre of the Continent, found granite to be 
almost the only rock, with few scattered patches of recent 
strata similar to those on the eastern coast, the remains of 
the great masses of stratified deposits eroded and borne away 
by denudation. 

The Quaternary formation is represented by a reddish 
breccia similar to the bone breccias of the Mediterranean, 
enclosing organic remains of quadrupeds, mostly marsupials 
of gigantic size. 

Miocene fossils are found in strata on the islands between 
Australia and the Continent of Asia, which has suggested the 
idea that there might have been an extensive Tertiary sea in 
this region. The limestone formations of all the East India 
Islands are thick, and extend around the base of mountains, 
giving them a tabular form like modern coral islands. 

The oldest rocks of Sumatra, says Verbeck, are granitic, 
but limestones and schist form mountain ranges in the high- 
land districts. Tertiary limestones occur filled with Corals, 
Orbitoides, and other shells, while strata are found enclosing 
fossil fish similar to the Glarus slates of the Alps and Monte 
Bolca, Italy. 

Tasmania and the neighboring islands display their lime- 
stone formations, which, in Borneo, includes the Nummulitic ; 
while Java and the Madura consist largely of Coral limestones. 
Calcareous deposits, rising eighteen hundred feet above the 
sea, characterize the coast-line of the Sandalwood and Sum- 
bawa Islands, and Coralline limestone form the hills seven 
hundred or eight hundred feet high. 

The Tertiary of New Guinea includes a limestone similar to 
the Geelong of Australia, and in New Zealand it is very 
prolific in fossils. F. W. Hutton found in this formation 
three hundred and seventy-five species of true Mollusks, 
twelve of Brachiopods, and eighteen of Echinoderms. 



2/2 LIMESTONES AND MARBLES. 

III. Africa. — The Cretaceous or Chalk formation is very 
largely developed in Africa, extending from Sennaar, on the 
Blue Nile, northward to Nubia, through Egypt, and along the. 
Mediterranean coast, overspreading Tripoli, Tunis, Algiers, 
Morocco, Fezzan of the Great Desert, and appearing also 
in South Africa. The Cretaceous beds are nearly always 
superimposed by the Nummulitic series, the two formations 
affording a great abundance and variety of limestones. 

In the mountain regions of the fertile country of Abyssinia, 
very ancient marine beds have been deposited, and the 
surface of the soil is scattered over with marine shells in a 
perfect state of preservation. The islands of the Red Sea 
bear marks of the same age, while the shores display shell 
limestones and gypsums ; and a siliceous limestone occurs in 
the Desert of Adel, southwest from the Straits of Babel-Man- 
del. The Blue Nile, whose sources are in the cool mountains 
of Abyssinia, flows through fresh-water beds of the nature of 
ancient alluvium, while below these beds rests a blackish-gray, 
sonorous limestone, with a tendency to a crystalline structure, 
containing vegetable and animal remains, the latter being 
analogous to those living in the surrounding waters. 

The strata covering the great plateau of the Libyan Desert, 
extending from the north to the Oasis of Ammon, contain 
Tertiary organic remains. The series of rocks include salt- 
beds, with carbonate of lime and sulphate of lime (limestone 
and gypsum), and furnish the chemical products for the 
Natron Lakes in that region. The most celebrated of these 
lakes is on the eastern side of the valley called the Waterless 
River, fifty miles south of Alexandria. 

Of all the countries of the globe known to the ancients but 
few equal Egypt for the interest and importance of its civil- 
ization, its institutions, its science and art. Besides its con- 
tributions to learning, it has been an inexhaustible mine for 
architectural decoration, yielding treasures of ornamental 
stones for the embellishment of the cities and magnificent 
structures of younger nations; 



LIMESTONES OF AFRICA. 2/3 

Egypt comprises four geological districts, consisting, 
respectively, of granites or similar crystalline rocks, sand- 
stones, limestones, and modern deposits. The granites, 
extending from the mountains of Nubia to Assouan, the 
ancient Syene, where the Nile passes the first cataract, 
occupy only a small part of -the surface of Egypt, but they 
furnished the material for many of the monuments of Lower 
Egypt. The celebrated quarries of Syene, which, it has been 
claimed, gave rise to the name syenite as applied to a rock, 
were cut into a coarse-grained stone composed of large 
crystals of rose feldspar, hyalin quartz, black mica, and horn- 
blende. This rock was employed for the most colossal 
monuments of Egypt, and is said to have formed the cover- 
ing of the Pyramids, and to have been used for the temples of 
Karnak and Luxor, near ancient Thebes, the obelisks, and 
other works of antiquity. 

The Cretaceous sandstones of Egypt extend north from 
Assouan, on the east of the Nile, to Esneh, on the 
west bank, a little below Thebes. This sandstone afforded 
material for the Temples of Isis at Dendera and other 
magnificent buildings of this remarkable country. The rock 
is white, crystalline, and either coarse or fine-grained. In the 
vicinity of the Cataracts it passes to a breccia, enclosing 
agates, and was employed in the Statue of Memnon, many of 
the Sphinxes, and the Temples of Karnak. The limestones of 
Egypt are variable in color, hard, compact, and yield an 
abundance of marble, often crossed with green veins. The 
region between the Nile and the Red Sea constitutes the 
Blad Recam, or " Marble Country," celebrated for the great 
variety and abundance of its marbles with fossils, and of 
different colors, green, rose, white, ash, and other hues. The 
valley of the Nile affords an extensive development of the 
Nummulitic formation. The compact limestones of Upper 
Egypt, extending far into the Desert of Sahara on the west, 
and Arabia on the east, are composed of masses of Polytha- 
lamia, identical with those of the European Chalk. 



274 LIMESTONES AND MARBLES. 

Cairo El Kahira, "the victorious," containing the tombs 
of the caliphs, is on the right bank of the Nile, where two 
ranges of mountains separate, one branching to the east, 
called the Arabian, the other to the west, the Libyan; the 
rocks which constitute these chains were used for the tombs 
of the ancient kings in Thebes. The summits of the hills 
behind the citadel of Cairo comprise the White Beds, a 
concretionary limestone, the Red Beds, a coarse shell lime- 
stone, and some other varieties enclosing Nummulites and 
Echini. 

Many of the magnificent Temples of Egypt, the Great 
Sphinx, and the Pyramids, the wonder of the world for more 
than forty centuries, were constructed of limestone. It is 
due to the warm and dry climate of this country that the 
Great Pyramid, a miracle of the constructive power of its 
ancient people, erected, it is supposed, before the time of 
Abraham, has been preserved from the eroding influence of 
atmospheric agencies. The immense pile consists of two 
hundred and sixty layers of large blocks of stone, rising to a 
vertical height of four hundred and eighty feet, and resting on 
a base of more than thirteen square acres. It is built of 
Nummulitic limestone, on the native rock, with its four sides 
facing exactly the four cardinal points, and it has been 
estimated that it required for its construction more than 
eighty million cubic feet of stone, sufficient to build a wall 
five feet high and one foot thick, of more than three thousand 
miles in length. Much of the stone was taken from an emi- 
nence near, called Pyramid Hill, and on the eastern escarp- 
ment are seen in abundance fossil Nummulites about the size 
of a pea, which are called Strabo's Beans. 

To the west of Cairo the rocks are gently sloping, but to 
the east they form abrupt escarpments, which are bathed by 
the waters of the Nile. Not far from this city exists a sterile 
plateau, elevated above the river, called the Petrified Forest. 
Wood, containing fragments of jasper and quartz, is scattered 
about, and trunks of trees sixty feet in length are lying one 



LIMESTONES OF AFRICA. 2/5 

upon another, like a prostrate forest. Some trees are horizon- 
tal, others vertical, but destitute of knots, branches, or roots, 
and appear to be conifers. The interior of the trunks is 
frequently filled with sandstone, while the petrified portions 
pass to agates and quartz of different colors. Limestones are 
found in the region, and at Red Mountain a marine limestone 
and conglomerates are quarried, penetrated by caverns, which 
afford shelter for wild beasts. 

The Lunettes of Dendera, found in a limestone, are spher- 
oidal stones of various dimensions, depressed in the centre, 
sometimes double or twins, surrounded with concentric promi- 
nences resembling a cushion, and simulating eyes, whence 
the name. 

The rock called Egyptian breccia is a conglomerate of 
rounded and angular pieces of diorite, gneiss, porphyry, 
argillaceous and siliceous schists, serpentines, flint, compact 
feldspar of a clear green, and marble, the whole cemented by 
a calcareous paste of various tints from green to purple-red. 
This breccia, found in the region of the Gebel Ghareb, two 
hundred feet above the level of the desert, was quarried to a 
considerable extent by the Egyptians and Romans, as is 
proved by its use in the ancient temples and palaces of 
Egypt, in many of the churches m Italy, obtained from ruined 
buildings, and in the mosques of Constantinople. The 
sarcophagus supposed to be that of Alexander the Great was 
cut in this conglomerate, which is called in Italy, Breccia di 
Egitto, Egyptian breccia ; its age is not known, but it does 
not indicate a very great antiquity. 

The great Nummulitic formation, ♦occupying the largest 
part of the kingdoms of the Pharaohs, extending from the Nile 
to the vast plains of the Libyan Desert on the west, forming 
the base of the deserts, and to the Red Sea on the east, 
includes beds of limestone varying in color, structure, and 
composition. 

The celebrated Egyptian alabaster marble was quarried in 
a hill six hundred or seven hundred feet above the valley of 



276 LIMESTONES AND MARBLES. 

the Sanmur, twelve hours from the Nile ; the base'of the hill 
is composed of layers of alabaster, the upper part of cavern- 
ous limestone. The hills along the river are composed 
of limestone, forming immense beds, which extend far beyond 
the valley. Hitchcock says that a beautiful, translucent 
alabaster, consisting of pure carbonate of lime, evidently 
deposited by springs, and similar to the Tabreez marble of 
Persia, was employed by the Pasha of Egypt in building 
one of his numerous palaces in Cairo. 

At some hours from Ghemir, limestone hills comprise beds 
of compact, rose-white marble ; and the deep valley of the 
Arabah, in the region of the Red Sea, constitutes a depository 
of marbles of white, rose, and green colors, with a granular, 
shell marble of a red tint, passing to an obscure white, the 
series resting under a Nummulitic limestone. Large beds of 
marble are developed in the chain of Gelaleh, whence were 
obtained many of the beautiful antique marbles so highly 
prized by ancient nations, and so eagerly sought in modern 
times. 

The ancient quarries of red, antique porphyry were re-dis- 
covered by Burton and Wilkinson, in a district east of the 
Nile, in the mountains of Djebel Dakhan, twenty-five miles 
from the Red Sea. This porphyry, identical with that of the 
ancient monuments, is composed of a feldspathic paste, enclos- 
ing different crystals of clear red, violet-red, wine-red or red- 
dish-brown. The chemical composition is as follows : Silica, 
58.92; alumina, 22.49; calcite, 5.53; the remaining parts, 
iron, magnesia, and some other substances.* From its chemi- 
cal composition it is easy to see that it is not properly a 
marble, yet, strange to say, it has been styled the Rosso 
antico of the ancients, which is a pure limestone ; nor 
is there such a similarity between the two substances that 
they need be confounded. Sometimes the antique porphyry 
has a deep-violet base with brown, resembling certain 
varieties of the Elfdalen of Sweden. 

The Egyptians did not employ the antique porphyry for 



LIMESTONES OF AFRICA. 2'] J 

sculpture, but the Romans, after the reign of Claudius, A. D. 
54, began to quarry the stone, which they used extensively, 
as may be seen in the works of Rome and other cities of Italy. 
For the sacred scarabse and other objects of small size, the 
Egyptians employed serpentine, basalt, trap, and Verde an- 
tique. Large statues of basalt are rare, but some of the most 
remarkable are found in the ruins of Karnak. Antiquaries 
have often taken a deep-colored granite with black mica, and 
also a dark diorite for basalt. 

The Nummulitic limestones of Algeria are widely dissem- 
inated, forming a great part of the mountains of this region. 
In this province are found representatives of the macigno of 
Italy, the flysch of the Alps, and the sandstones of Vienna. 
The Cretaceous formation is developed at the city of Al- 
giers, including many varieties of limestones, gray, and yellow, 
like those of Constantine, limestones with fossils, like the 
Jurassic, lithographic, and black limestones, a white saccha- 
roidal, which is quarried, dolomites, ancient travertines, and 
solid calcareous breccias. Salt, lead, and copper mines, 
worked by the Arabs for a long time, have been found in 
these rocks. The beautiful onyx marble of Algeria is, with- 
out doubt, a calcareous deposit of springs. 

The city of Constantine, in Algeria, the ancient Certa, is 
built upon a square rock at an elevation of more than two 
thousand feet, surrounded by abrupt escarpments, at the foot 
of which flows the Roumel, formerly the Ampsaga, and 
presents a thick mass of compact limestones of fine grain, 
generally without fossils, except the upper layers, which 
contain Hippurites, Ammonites, and Caprotina. The Hip- 
purite and black limestones extend a long distance ; the 
former constitutes, with reddish-yellow dolomites, some of the 
mountains. 

The species of the Constantine limestones are numerous, 
affording gray, black, red, brown, and rose as regards colors, 
and fossiliferous, oohtic, lithographic, lumachelles, as regards 
origin and texture ; some beds of a bright color are quarried 



2"]^ LIMESTONES AND MARBLES. 

as marble. In Constantine and Bona, sheets of calcareous 
tufa cover the hills and plateaus ; at the former place they are 
compact and crystalline, of a rose color, and have been used 
for marble in many ancient monuments. In^ some localities 
the tufa passes to a ferruginous sandstone, used for building. 
Between Algeria and Constantine are an innumerable num- 
ber of dazzlingly white, calcareous pyramids, assuming fan- 
tastic shapes, formed by the deposits of hot springs. 

To the preceding limestones of Algeria may be added the 
compact, fossiliferous, rose-colored limestone of Oran, a lime- 
stone with Madrepores, and a breccia enclosing sparry shells. 
The quarries called Du Genii yield a bluish-green porphyry, 
with fine grain, penetrated with veins of calcite. 

The ubiquitous Nummulitic formation, with its remarkably 
uniform characteristics, appears in Morocco. There is little 
variation in the limestones of this country from those of the 
others on the western Mediterranean, except that they are 
less numerous than the Algerian. The southern side of the 
Atlas Mountains consists of limestones and sandstones, with a 
great variety of fossils ; some of the rocks are analogous to 
the macigno and alberese of Italy. 

The limestones of Tunis and Fezzan are destitute of fossils ; 
those comprising the hills of Tripoli include a great variety 
with dolomites. Near the ruins of Carthage, one of the most 
celebrated cities of antiquity, occurs a conglomerate of sand- 
stone and limestone, which may have been employed in its 
construction. Of this city, which filled so large a place in 
history, nothing remains except some of its cisterns and an 
aqueduct, though we are told that it contained many magnifi- 
cent buildings. 

The limestone of Red Hill, in West Africa, encloses frag- 
ments of scoriae, which has associated it with igneous 
agency ; a variety, forming cliffs east of the mouth of the 
Congo, or Livingston River, is filled with the Ostrea, while 
Jurassic strata, with Ammonites, are developed on the east 
coast of the Continent. 



Plate XX. 




Brbcoa Villa Adriana. 




Verde Plasma. 



ASMSTROMQ t Co. tlTB. BOSTON. 



LIMESTONES OF AFRICA. 2/9 

The Island of St. Louis, on the coast of Western Africa, is 
composed entirely of marine, shelly sand, enclosing the Area, 
a Lamellibranch found in the rocks from the Silurian to the 
Tertiary. St. Helena yields a calcareous rock composed of 
the debris of shells, while porphyries and aragonites are found 
on the Azores. 

The Island of Santiago, one of the Cape Verde Islands, 
is volcanic, but at Porta Praya the sea is bordered for many 
miles by a white band of solid, shell limestone, in some places 
passing to a perfectly pure, crystalline marble, resembling 
aragonite. Like the rocks on the west coast of Africa, it is 
Tertiary. 



CHAPTER XX. 

ANTIQUE MARBLES. 

I. Antique White Marbles. — Marmor P avium: Greco DurOy 
or Parian Marble. — Certain stones, including marbles, ser- 
pentines, porphyries, basalts, granites, or any other rocks 
capable of receiving a polish and suitable for decoration, 
were early used for architecture and sculpture, as is proved 
by the ruins of cities, inscriptions, and the writings of ancient 
chroniclers. On account of their superior beauty, their 
great variety, and capacity for being easily worked, marbles 
were more frequently used for art purposes than any other 
stone. 

Although some of these marbles are still quarried, and 
must be considered both ancient and modern, the mines to 
a great extent are either exhausted or forgotten, and their 
valuable productions can be seen only in fragments found in 
the ruins of old buildings, or in the churches and palaces of 
mediaeval times which have been decorated by the spoil's of 
antiquity. 

According to an estimate made by Corsi, there are more 
than seven thousand antique columns in modern Rome, made 
from nearly seventy-five different species or varieties of stones, 
obtained from the ruins of the old city. 

Antique marbles may be arranged in two general classes : 
White or statuary, and Colored. Ancient sculptors sometimes 
employed the latter, but white was generally preferred, espec- 
ially before the decline of art. Among all the varieties of 
280 



ANTIQUE MARBLES. 28 1 

white marble used for sculpture, Parian held the first rank. 
The island of Paros, in the ^gean Sea, is thirty-six miles in 
circumference, and though small in extent became noted in 
Greek history and Greek art. The marble for which it was 
celebrated was principally obtained from Mount Marpressa, 
near the centre of the island, whose quarries were worked 
many centuries before the Christian era. Some translators 
have thought that Parian marble was referred to in the Book 
of Esther, though that rendering has had opponents. In the 
Vulgate and the Septuagint versions of the Bible, it is said 
that David procured Parian marble to be used in the con- 
struction of the Temple in Jerusalem. If this is a correct 
understanding of the text, it proves that this marble was ex- 
tensively known and used before the age of Homer. It has 
been found in the ruins of Troy, but it might have been 
brought thither by the Greeks at a period subsequent to the 
foundation of the Homeric Troy. 

Parian has always taken precedence of all other marbles, 
and by way of eminence has been called Marble or Parian, as 
if these were names for what was most beautiful and excel- 
lent among decorative stones. 

Pliny says it was called Lychnites, on account of its having 
been quarried by lamplight, but modern travellers believe that 
the marble was taken from the side of the mountain open to 
daylight, and that the name was given on account of its 
brilliancy. Pinkerton thinks the name Lychnites may have 
been applied to a calcareous alabaster in the form of stalac- 
tites, found with the marbles of Paros. 

It is a nearly pure carbonate of lime, with a crystalline, 
granular structure, and when freshly broken presents a 
brilliant play of light peculiar to it. A delicate rose tint and a 
velvety appearance have been ascribed to this unrivalled 
marble, but, as seen in antique statues, it inclines to a yellow- 
ish hue, peculiarly adapted to represent flesh-tints. It is hard, 
and consists of rather large, glistening scales, unlike the Pen- 
telic or Carrara. 



282 LIMESTONES AND MARBLES. 

The ancients considered Panan 'peculiarly agreeable to the 
gods on account of its whiteness and purity, and its virtues 
have been widely celebrated by classic writers. 

The Parian Chronicles, as they are called, found in the Island 
of Paros, now in England, are inscriptions cut in a block of 
this marble giving an account of the principal events of Greek 
history from Cecrops, 1582 B. C, to Diagnotus, 264 B. C, a 
period of one thousand three hundred and eighteen years. 

It is related by Herodotus that the Alcmaeonidae, a noble 
family of Athens, 750-400 B. C, having been banished from 
their native city, contracted to rebuild the Temple of Delphi, 
which had been burned 548 B. C, of Porinum, a marble of 
less value, but they used the more costly and beautiful Parian 
instead for the exterior front walls, and this act of generosity 
made the family very popular in Greece. 

Parian was employed in the construction of the Mausoleum 
of Hadrian, now the Castle of St. Angelo, Rome, and the 
sculptures which adorned it were of the same material. One 
of the statues, the Barbarini Faun, taken from this monument, 
is now in the gallery of Munich. The antique marbles called 
Pavonazzetto and Giallo antico were used, in combination 
with Parian, for the decoration of this sumptuous tomb. 
Many of the antique sculptures in the Vatican Museum were 
carved in Parian, as in the Minerva Medica, in which it 
resembles a very fine alabaster, remarkably translucent, and 
tending to a yellowish tint, and in the Ariadne and the Venus, 
of a bluish-white, unlike the Minerva, but with the large lus- 
trous scales of the Parian. The Mercury of the Belvedere is 
said to be of this marble, while the Apollo Belvedere has 
been considered by some connoisseurs to be Parian, and by 
others, with less probability, Luni or Carrara. 

Marmor Porinum : Grechetto Duro of the Italians. —This 
marble is similar in hardness and whiteness to the Parian and 
ranks next to it, but has smaller scales and a lighter texture, 
whence the name *' porous." It was called by the ancients 
Chernites, from its resemblance to ivory, and was much used for 



i 



ANTIQUE MARBLES. 283 

sarcophagi on account of its supposed preservative qualities. 
Pausanias says the f orinum marble was found near Olym- 
pia, in the Peloponnesus, and that it was used in the famous 
Temple of Jupiter Olympus. Doubtless many other sacred 
edifices found in this region, consecrated to peace and art, 
were constructed, wholly'or in part, of this variety of marble. 

Many of the celebrated sculptures of the Vatican Museum 
were made of Grechetto duro or Porinum, including the Torso 
of Hercules, erroneously catalogued as Pentelic ; the Amazon, 
in the Gallery of the Statues, considered the finest in exist- 
ence ; and the Apollo Cytharaedus, in the Hall of the Biga. 

Marnior Pe7iteliciLm : Greco Fino^ or Pejttelic Marble, — This 
marble is described with the ** Limestones of Greece," but a 
mistake as to the place whence it was taken has caused some 
confusion among writers about Pentelic marble which requires 
explanation. 

Mount Pentelicus proper is a branch of Mount Parnes, 
between Athens and Marathon, extending to the coast north- 
east of the former city. It has been described as close to the 
walls of Athens and very near Mount Hymettus, but it is 
probable that Mount Lycabettus, one of the Pentelic range, 
near the city, was meant. Another cause of perplexity is 
the want of uniformity in the marble ; the fact is that Mount 
Pentelicus yields different kinds, one variety veined, and 
another pure white, which furnishes the true, antique Pentelic ; 
both are seen in the Vatican Museum. The marble of Mount 
Hymettus has sometimes been mentioned in a way which 
might leave a doubt as to whether it was not identical with 
the Pentelic, but the two marbles are radically different. 

Xenophon writes that there is developed near Athens an 
abundance of marble, from which the most beautiful temples, 
altars, and statues of the gods are made, and which is much 
prized by the Greeks and the Barbarians. 

It was used in the time of Pericles for columns and other 
parts of buildings, and, though Parian was generally preferred 
for sculpture, yet Praxiteles, and Scopas, who was a native of 



284 LIMESTONES AND MARBLES. 

Paros, employed it, to a considerable extent, for statuary. 
The antique has a remarkably fine grain,' and a dazzling white- 
ness, which distinguish it from most other marbles. 

The statue of the Young Augustus, in the Vatican, Corsi 
regards as Pentelic, though it is said to be Parian in the cata- 
logue. The marble has the dead whiteness of the former 
rather than the flesh-tint of the latter. A statue of Commo- 
dus larger than life, of Venus Anadyomene, of Posidippus and 
Menander (in the last two, the marble is veined with bluish- 
gray), a Bacchante, life-size, the Laocoon, and some other 
works of less note, are said to be sculptured in this marble. 

Marmor Hymettus : Iinezio, or Cipollo. — Mount Hymettus, 
about three miles southeast from Athens, was celebrated in 
ancient times for its marble and honey. The quarries yielded 
an abundance of an obscure white marble, tending to a yel- 
lowish tint, marked by long veins of deep bluish-gray schists, 
giving it a ribboned appearance. It is called Cipollo by Italian 
marble-workers, from the odor emitted when struck, similar 
to that of the onion. It is greatly inferior to the Pentelic, 
and was principally used for columns, architraves and other 
architectural members. On the authority of Corsi, the first 
foreign columns ever brought to Rome were of Hymettus 
marble, and the number found in that city at the present time, 
is very large. Forty-six columns were saved from the con- 
flagration of St. Paul's Church outside the walls, while forty- 
two sustain the nave of the Church of St. Maria Maggiore, and 
twenty are found in the Church of San Pietro in Vincoli ; it is 
seen in so many churches and other buildings that it cannot 
be mistaken for any other. The Hymettus was so generally 
used for architraves, that it is said when a painter wished to 
represent this member he always painted it in imitation of 
this marble. The Meleager and the Diana Lucifera of the 
Vatican are claimed to be in the Imezio or Hymettus ; in the 
latter statue the marble is white and compact. 

Marmor Thasium : Greco Livido, or Tarsio. — The island 
of Thasos, now Tasso, in the ^gean, near the coast of Thrace, 



ANTIQUE ART. 285 

attracted, on account of its gold, the enterprising Phoenicians, 
who also discovered there mines of marbles which were after- 
wards used by Greek sculptors. It is called by Italians Tarsio, 
from its native island, and Livido on account of its tendency 
to a dark tint. The texture is rather compact, and, like the 
Parian and the Hymettus,"it has a brilliant fracture. The rep- 
utation of this marble has been variable ; sometimes it was not 
popular enough to be introduced into architecture, but was de- 
graded to the use of fish-ponds, while, at other times, it was 
held in highest estimation by the Greeks, and employed to 
some extent in sculpture. It was used for the Euripides in 
the Braccio Nuovo, and for covering the Pyramid of Caius 
Cestus outside the walls of Rome. According to Pausanias 
two statues of the Emperor Hadrian, made of this marble, 
were placed in the Temple of Jupiter Olympus, at Olympia. 

Marmor Lesbhim : Greco Giallognolo, or Yellowish Mar- 
ble. — Lesbos, ''where burning Sappho loved and sung," the 
largest and most important island of the ^gean, near the 
coast of Asia Minor, and intersected by lofty mountains, one 
of which bore the classic name of Olympus, was the native re- 
gion of the ^olian school of lyric poetry, and the birthplace of 
many distinguished characters. The high mountains which 
form so grand a feature in the scenery of the island afforded 
the Lesbian marble used in the production of antique art. 

Its brilliancy and tendency to a clear yellow rendered it de- 
sirable to represent flesh tints, and it was preferred to any 
other for sepulchral monuments. Corsi says this marble was 
used for the statue of Julia Pia in the Museum of the Vatican. 
There is a bust of Julia Pia in the Braccio Nuovo, and a por- 
trait statue, life-size, of Julia, the daughter of Titus, catalogued 
as of Luni marble, but with the characteristics of the Lesbian ; 
perhaps this is the one intended. This antiquary says the 
celebrated Venus of the Capitol was sculptured in the same 
variety. 

Marmor Tyihtm; Greco Ttirclmticcio, or Bluish marble. — 
There is sometimes found an antique marble in the ruins of 



286 LIMESTONES AND MARBLES. 

Rome called Greco Turchiniccio, Greek bluish marble, from 
a tendency to a blue color, though it is not thought to be 
Greek. 

Its ancient name has not been transmitted with the stone, 
but from its resemblance to the marble of the Scala Santa, a 
flight of twenty-eight steps supposed to be taken from the 
palace of Pilate at Jerusalem, and brought to Rome by the 
Empress Helen, A. D. 326, it has been considered Tyrian 
marble from Mount Libanus, and, in confirmation of this opin- 
ion, Statius says that a white marble quarried at Mount Leb- 
anon was called Tyrian and Sidonian indiscriminately, because 
the quarries were not far from these cities, and that it was an 
article of commerce to the Tyrians. Josephus records that 
the Temple was partly constructed of the white marble of 
Mount Lebanon, and in our version of the Bible we read that 
large hewn stones were brought from Lebanon for the foun- 
dation of the Temple. 

The identity of the marble of the Scala Santa and that of 
Mount Lebanon is based on slight proof, since it is doubtful 
whether the Scala Santa was brought from Pilate's Palace, 
and, provided it was, whether it was made of the marble in 
question, since Jerusalem is in a limestone region, is even 
built upon this rock, some of which yields marble. 

Marmor Lunense : Marmo di Carrara. — This variety, 
known to the ancients as Lunense, celebrated in modern 
times as Carrara marble, was obtained near the Etruscan 
town of Luna, now Luni, which gives the name to this valu- 
able stone. 

Strabo informs us that near Luna were quarries of marbles 
of different shades of blue and white, furnishing blocks of 
sufficient size for columns. The Carrara or Luni marble was 
not probably used by the Romans before the time of Julius 
Caesar, but from that date it was extensively employed to em- 
bellish Rome, and superseded most other kinds, on account 
of its excellence and the facility and cheapness of transporta- 
tion from the quarries by the sea and the Tiber. At the 



ANTIQUE MARBLES. 28/ 

close of the dictatorship of Caesar it was most highly valued 
for sculpture, a rank it has held ever since. The bluish 
marble called Bardiglio, from the same region, was less 
prized by the ancients than the Bathium. 

The columns and architrave of the Dogana di Terra, the 
Custom-House at Rome, 'erroneously called the Temple of 
Antoninus Pius, shows in what great masses it was used. 
The immense size of the blocks, and the danger to which 
the populace were exposed in their transportation through 
the narrow streets, have afforded themes for the verses of 
Juvenal. The Luni marble has a fine grain and a white color 
approaching that of majolica, but it is often marred by the 
presence of specks of metallic substances. 

Marmor Coralitictim : Palombiiio. — Pliny being authority, 
this marble was found on the banks of the Coraliticus or San- 
garius, a river in Phrygia, Asia Minor ; hence it was called 
both Coraliticum and Sangarium. Ajasson is of the opinion 
that the ancient milk-white marble still found in Italy, and 
known as Palombino, may have been the Coraliticum of Pliny, 
but there is some reason for supposing the latter to have been 
a gypseous alabaster, or the fine, white marble called Gre- 
chetto. Corsi is persuaded that Palombino is identical with 
the Coraliticum, since it answers to the description of the 
Roman naturalist. This marble is white, of a clear grayish 
or yellowish tint, simulating the color of a white dove, which 
gained for it the name of Palombino, with very fine grain, said 
to be the finest among marbles, compact texture, fracture 
without lustre, and bears some resemblance to ivory. 

Ancient writers agree that Coraliticum was never found in 
blocks exceeding two cubits in size. In the Vatican Museum 
are two cinerary urns of Palombino, not more than one foot 
in height, bearing the inscription of T. Claudius Successus. 
The life-size bust of Annius Verus Caesar, son of M. Aure- 
lius, was sculptured in Coraliticum or Palombino, if the iden- 
tity of the two marbles has been established; an altar said 
to be Palombino is probably travertine. The Coraliticum was 



288 LIMESTONES AND MARBLES. 

used in antique pavements of rooms and courts, in small 
pieces forming squares and rhomboids. 

Other white statuary marbles without specific names or 
distinctive qualities, have been classed under the titles of 
Trojan, Mylasian and Ephesian. Limestones and marbles 
are very abundant near the site of the ancient city of Ephesus, 
which supplied the material for the celebrated Temple of 
Diana and other magnificent buildings of this the chief 
of the twelve Ionian cities. Strabo says that the city of 
Mylasa, in Caria, was built on a plain, under the projecting 
brow of a mountain of very beautiful marble, and, as a conse- 
quence, no city surpassed it in the magnificence of its build- 
ings. It was adorned with porticoes and temples, including 
the national Temple of Jupiter Carius, and other splendid 
buildings, whose ruins are very extensive. 

Statius speaks of a white marble called Trojan, found at 
Mount Ida, near Troy, which may have been used in the con- 
struction of Ilium. 

II. Antiqite Colored Marbles. — The varieties of white an- 
tique marbles are few in comparison with those that are 
colored ; the latter, though sometimes used for statues, were 
more frequently and with more taste employed for architec- 
tural work, and as such they were exceedingly beautiful and 
appropriate. 

The wide extent of the Roman dominions under the Empire, 
and the wealth, power, and resources of the emperors, placed 
within their reach all the mineral products of those countries 
subjected to their authority. The rarest and most costly 
stones were brought from every province where the Roman 
legions had penetrated, to adorn the temples, palaces, and 
villas of Italy, and to gratify the luxurious tastes of her^ 
rulers. Asia, Africa, Greece, and the islands of the Mediter- 
ranean yielded up their subterranean treasures to enhance the 
splendor of Roman cities, and to minister to the sumptuous 
habits of the Roman people. 



^ANTIQUE MARBLES. 289 

Many of the foreign decorative stones introduced into Italy- 
were obtained from quarries that had been worked by the 
subjugated nations themselves ; others were discovered and 
first used by the Romans ; but most of them are abandoned, 
and were it not for the extensive ruins of Rome and other 
Italian cities, we should have no other acquaintance with 
these beautiful and valuable marbles than what can be ob- 
tained from ancient writings. 

These buried treasures, taken from the old palaces and 
temples, are rapidly disappearing, being used for various 
kinds of ornamental mosaic work, and but for the churches, 
which are more or less adorned with them, they would even- 
tually be entirely lost to the public. 

Marmor Numidictnn : Giallo Antico. — This beautiful mar- 
ble, unsurpassed for the splendor of its hues and the fine 
quality of its grain, was obtained from Numidia, in northern 
Africa, a region made historic by the wars between Jugurtha 
and the Romans. It is said that the quarries were on the 
side of Mount Maurasidus ; and, from the near neighborhood 
of Libya, the marble has been called Libyan. M. Lepidus, a 
Roman consul, JZ B. C, according to Pliny, was the first to 
bring it to Rome, and was censured for using so beautiful a 
marble for the common use of lintels and thresholds of doors. 

To distinguish this marble from the modern yellows of 
Siena and Verona, it has been called Giallo antico, though 
a tolerable familiarity with the latter would prevent any con- 
fusion of the two. The texture is compact and the grain very 
fine, consequently it receives a high polish. The base of the 
color is always yellow or yellowish, but of many shades, from 
deep yellow to nearly white, including ivory, canary, gold, 
saffron, and orange. The different varieties have received 
different names to indicate the shades of color, — as Dorato, 
golden ; Cupo, deep orange ; Paglia, straw color ; Carnigione, 
flesh color. The ancients compared it to ivory, to the rays of 
the sun, to purple, from the color of its veins, and to saffron. 
Some varieties are brecciated, others are veined with differ-. 



290 LIMESTONES AND MARBLES 

ent shades of yellow or purple ; the variety which presents a 
single tint is considered the most valuable, and of unicolored 
species the rose-yellow is the rarest. There are several an- 
tique yellow breccias, but they differ in many points from the 
Giallo antico. 

The extraordinary quantities of the Marmor Numidicum or 
Giallo antico found in Rome proves that it was very abundant 
in its native quarries, and was extensively exported. Some 
of the largest columns are seen in the Pantheon, the Church 
of St. John Lateran, and the Arch of Constantine ; two very 
large columns in St. Peter's of the Vatican were taken from 
Trajan's Forum. 

Marmor Lucullelim: Bigio Morato. — The Luculleum re- 
ceived its ancient name from L. Lucullus, the distinguished 
Roman consul whose wars with Mithridates fill so large a 
place in history, but who is equally well known for the luxu- 
rious tastes he so freely gratified in the latter part of his life. 
He constructed many magnificent palaces for his own use, 
employing this marble, for which he had a predilection, in 
their decoration. Pliny says he was the first to introduce it 
into Rome, and that it was black, and brought from the island 
of Melos, according to the English translation published by 
Bohn, which is probably an error, Melas, the Greek name for 
Nile, being intended. 

Corsi thinks the marble was obtained from Meroe, in Abys- 
sinia, which seems very probable, as Lucullus was at one 
time governor of Africa. It is black, with very fine spots 
like dust, and is slightly varied ; that of a deep color is called 
Bigio morato scuro ; that less tinted, chiaro. The most 
highly-prized variety has spots of deep black. It was found 
in large masses, since there were three hundred and sixty 
columns thirty-eight feet high brought to Rome by Scaurus, 
to be used in a temporary theatre, many of which were sub- 
sequently appropriated for his own house. There are two 
columns of Bigio morato or Lucullian marble in the Church 
of S. Maria Maggiore. 



ANCIENT MARBLES. 29 1 

Marrnor lasscnsc : Porta Santa. — This marble was ob- 
tained from lasus, a small island in the gulf of the same name, 
on the coast of Caria, and is sometimes called Carian ; tl>e 
ruins of the town of lasus, now Asyn Kalessi, are still to be 
seen. The modern name Porta Santa was given because it 
was used about the entrance to St. Peter's, called Porta 
Santa. 

The Emperor Claudius, A. D. 41-54, who embellished 
Rome by several public works, had a great admiration for this 
marble ; consequently it is sometimes- called Claudian stone. 
There is a great diversity in the tints, though the general tone 
is red or reddish ; it presents none of the pure, primitive colors 
except orange, but ranges through many varieties, from pure 
white to black, and from delicate red to its darkest shades ; 
green is seldom seen. The veins are irregular, — now wide, 
now narrow, sometimes wavy, sometimes articulated.' It is 
difficult to determine the color of the ground, whith is covered 
with red, pink, orange, or some other colored veins, and there 
is no harmony, though the hues are quite vivid in some vari- 
eties ; the rarest and most beautiful has purple spots. The 
fountain in the Piazza Colonna, Rome, affords an example, and 
it is so plentiful that there are few churches or other public 
buildings not adorned with it. 

The Emperors Gordiani, who flourished in the third century 
of the Christian era, had a villa on the Via Praenestina lead- 
ing from Rome to Preneste, now Palestrina, which was 
embellished with two hundred marble columns ; fifty of Giallo 
antico, fifty of Pavonazzetto, a purple and white marble, 
fifty of Cippolino, a green and white, and fifty of Porta Santa. 
These columns formed the exterior decoration, and give some 
hint of the magnificence of the interior. 

Marmor Carystium : Cipollino. — The chain of mountains 
which traverse the island of Euboea, on the eastern shore of 
Greece, terminates at the southeastern extremity, in Mount 
Ocha. On its western slope were the quarries of the ancient 
Carystium marble, named for the town Carystus, on the 



292 LIMESTONES AND MARBLES. 

coast, at a convenient distance for the exportation of the stone 
from the quarries. The marble was used in the Temple of 
Jupiter Marmarius, built on the side of Mount Ocha. The 
Carystium presents a foundation generally of an obscure or 
pinkish white, with green or bluish veins of talc or mica, 
which causes the layers to peel off like the coats of an onion, 
whence the name Cipollino ; sometimes red is found among 
the colors, but it is not common. It has been compared to 
the waves of the sea, and very appropriately, both for the 
color and the form of the veins or clouds. 

It is said that the large columns of Cipollino, belonging to 
the celebrated portico of the Temple of Neptune, built by 
Agrippa, who consecrated a marble which so well represents 
the waves, to the god of the sea, were placed in the Curia 
Innocenziana. Ten columns of this marble, forty-six feet 
high, support the fagade of the Temple of Antoninus and 
Faustina, now the Church of San Lorenzo in Miranda, near 
the Roman Forum. 

The Cipollino admits of great variations; when green 
spots assume an elliptical form, the species is called Mando- 
lato verde, green almond ; when both base and spots are of 
different shades of red, Mandolato rosso, which is very rare 
and valuable ; another rare variety shows parallel bands of 
white on a green base ; two others, one with yellow founda- 
tion and the other with rose color, both covered with bright 
green waves, are seldom found. The kind displaying com- 
pact white and lively green clouds is called Cipollino marino, 
seen in the Villa Albani ; another variety occurs of a red tint 
bearing some resemblance to the Rosso antico. One of the 
most beautiful forms of this changeable marble is seen in the 
magnificent columns of the Braccio Nuovo, in the Vatican 
Museum. The foundation color is white, covered with light 
and dark purple waves, displaying occasional delicate yellow 
tints, which assume the forms of circles and ellipses. 

Cipollino is not generally used except for columns, but 
unfortunately it does not weather well. It was extensively 



ANCIENT MARBLES. 293 

employed by the ancients, and is found in many mediaeval 
buildings, and sometimes in recent monuments, as in that of 
the Immaculate Conception, in the Piazza di Spagna, Rome. 

Marmor Synadicum : Pavonaszetto, or Phrygian. — Phrygia 
occupied the western part of the great table-land of Asia 
Minor, between the chain of the Olympus on the north and the 
Taurus on the south, a region celebrated in the fabulous ages 
for the worship of Bacchus ; its mountains yielded gold and 
marbles. 

Synnada was a town in the interior of Phrygia, near which 
was quarried the Synnadic marble, a name given to it by the 
Romans, but called by the natives Docimite, from Docimea, a 
small village near the mine. Strabo states that to gratify the 
extravagance of the Romans, pillars of large size and sur- 
passing beauty, quarried at this mine, were»transported a long 
distance to the sea, whence they were conveyed to Rome. 

The marble resembles alabaster in its translucent quality, 
and in the form and direction of the veins. The base is some- 
times opal and sometimes a creamy white, marked with veins 
of purple ranging from very dark to quite red, often blended 
with rose color. The clouds have considerable regularity, 
frequently passing into a soft, translucent white, and occa- 
sionally presenting pink and yellow hues, affording a very 
beautiful variety. When the purple and white are about equal 
in proportion it is called a brecciato ; on account of the deep 
red (pavonazzo) exhibited in some varieties, the name pavonaz- 
zetto has been given to it, the termination being a diminutive. 
The most valuable specimens exhibit a lively crimson. 

The Emperor Hadrian had a special liking for Synnadic 
marble, and employed it for the decoration of his tomb, now 
known as the Castle of St. Angelo, while the Temples of 
Jupiter and Juno were embellished by one hundred and twenty 
columns of this beautiful species. It always commanded a 
great price, and ancient writers were accustomed to compare 
anything valuable to Phrygian marble. From the large quan- 
tities found in the ruins, it must have been very generally 



294 LIMESTONES AND MARBLES. 

used by the ancient Romans, and it seems to be a great favor- 
ite with their successors, as it has been so generally appro- 
priated for the decoration of modern edifices. A few of the 
many buildings where this elegant marble is seen are the 
churches of S. Maria in Ara Coeli, S. Maria Maggiore, St. 
John Lateran, and S. Clemente. The High Altar of S. Pras- 
sede is made of the Pavonazzetto breccia, and a large vase is 
found in the Vatican Museum. 

Marmor Chium : Marmo Africa^io. — One of the largest 
and most celebrated of the ^gean islands is Chios, a 
competitor for the fame of having given birth to Homer, and, 
like most islands of the Grecian Archipelago, it is traversed 
by a chain of rocky mountains, whose highest peak is Mount 
Pelinaeus, now Elias ; Chios, the chief city, stood at the foot 
of this mountain, while a Temple of Jupiter crowned its sum- 
mit. Pliny informs us that variegated marbles were first dis- 
covered in Chios, and employed by the natives for the walls of 
the town, of which they boasted as being very magnificent. 
This vaunt led Cicero to reply that they would have been 
equally valuable had they been made of travertine, since in 
his day it was customary to paint common stones for walls of 
buildings. 

If the blocks of Chium marble used in their walls were pol- 
ished the inhabitants could make good their pretensions, as 
the Africano is one of the most showy of the antique marbles, 
and whether the walls around the city or the walls of the 
buildings were intended the effect must have been striking. 
The Italian name Africano is misleading ; Africa not being 
the place from which it was obtained. 

The colors, though very positive, are greatly diversified. 
The white is clear and the black very deep ; the different 
shades of greens are lively, while the reds vary from a delicate 
rose to a vivid purple, often assuming the tints of the coral 
and sometimes the brightness of flowers ; the varieties con- 
taining green, crimson, and yellow are rare. It is a shell 
marble, though the fossils are not always recognized, and is 



Plate XXI. 




Africano. 




I'^u/ 



Cll'Ol.LlNO. 



Arxstrovu ii Co. 1.IT». I)o»TO.> 



ANCIENT MARBLES. 295 

sometimes veined and sometimes brecciated. The Africano 
is very abundant, being found in most of the churches and 
other public buildings, where it is used with good effect in 
covering large spaces. The columns of the central door of 
St. Peter's afford one of the numerous examples of the use 
made of it. 

Rosso Antico : Ancient Red. — This marble, though fre- 
quently seen in Italy, has not authentically been traced to its 
source, nor has the name by which it was known to the an- 
cients been transmitted to us, says Corsi. Some writers have 
endeavored to identify it with Giallo antico, but the absurdity 
of the attempt is evident when the two species are compared. 
Others have seen in the Rosso antico the Alabandic stone of 
Pliny, which he says was obtained from a mine near Alabanda, 
in Asia Minor. Perhaps there is no antique marble which 
has caused so much ambiguity among writers as this. The 
Red porphyry of Egypt has unfortunately been called Rosso 
antico, a fact that has led some persons astray in regard to 
the marble called by that name, making the two species of 
stones identical; but there ought to be no confusion, since 
their chemical constituents, texture, and color are different. 
It is possible that Rosso antico was found in Africa, but it is 
more likely that Greece was its native place, since it is claimed 
that the quarries have been rediscovered in the latter coun- 
try. A block of red marble, exhibited at the Universal Expo- 
sition, was claimed to be the genuine Rosso antico, taken 
from an old Greek quarry recently brought to light. There 
are modern red marbles in France and some other countries, 
which bear a striking resemblance to the antique. 

The grain of the Rosso antico is very fine, the color red, 
from deep blood to rose, sometimes passing to a purple, and 
not unfrequently different shades of red are found in the same 
specimen. When clouded at all, it is 'usually with white, 
either in veins or brecciated form, and occasionally with small 
black or purple lines, which give it depth and richness of 
color. The ancients imitated this marble in terra-cotta so 



296 LIMESTONES AND MARBLES. 

well that it was difficult to distinguish between the true and 
the false. 

The Faun of the Capitol, the steps of the High Altar of 
the Church of St. Prassede, and the two Columns in the 
Casino of the Rospigliosi Palace, containing Guido's Aurora, 
are specimens of this species. 

Marmor Tcenariiim: Nero Antico. — Laconia, in the Pelo- 
ponnesus, whose capital was Sparta, is crossed from north to 
south by the Taygetus, a wild and lofty range of mountains, 
ending in the promontory of Taenarium, the most southern 
point of Greece. It was from this projection that the Nero 
antico, highly prized for its lustre, was quarried. 

The grain is fine, the texture compact, and the color deep 
black, sometimes with fine, short, broken lines of white. Ex- 
amples of this marble may be seen in the Museum of the 
Capitol and other places. Some of the modern black marbles 
surpass the antiques in beauty ; notably the Belgian Black, 
whose color and lustre are unrivalled. 

Marmor Molossiicm: Fior di Persico. — The ancient tribe 
of the Molossi inhabited the region of Epirus, now Albania, 
on the eastern coast of the ^Egean, the country of Pyrrhus, 
whose history was one of the most romantic and eventful of 
former times. 

Near the source of the river Acheron, which communi- 
cated with the *' lower regions," was quarried a beautiful 
marble named by the Romans Molossium, for the tribe origi- 
nally occupying the country. Modern stone-workers call it 
Fior di Persico, from the resemblance of its color to the 
peach-blossom. 

The base is white, always more or less covered with veins 
and clouds of a beautiful purple, passing frequently into red 
and crimson; the shading sometimes occurring in parallel 
lines and sometimes reticulated. A fine display of this mar- 
ble is seen in the magnificent Corsini Chapel, in the Church 
of St. John Lateran; it is also used in the Casino of the 
Rospigliosi Palace, and in many churches. 



ANCIENT MARBLES. 29/ 

Marmor Phengite : Bianco e Giallo. — Pliny says that the 
Phengite was found in Cappadocia, a mountainous country of 
Asia Minor, celebrated in early times for its horses. It was 
probably a volcanic region, as Strabo writes that in some parts 
flames issued from the ground, and that the hidden pits of fire . 
became dangerous to the in-cautious traveller and to cattle. Its 
mineral productions were considerable, including gypsum; a 
red earth called Sinopic, an article of traffic ; building-stone ; 
a white stone resembling ivory in color, found in small pieces • 
and a transparent stone for windows, yielding large masses 
and forming an article of export. It is possible that the 
"transparent stone," giving a broad significance to the word 
transparent, may have been the Phengite — "bright stone" — 
of Pliny, similar to some of the calcareous alabasters, as the 
Tabreez marble, used for windows. 

The ancient Phengite received so high a polish, says the 
chronicler Suetonius, that it reflected images like a mirror, 
and was employed by the Emperor Domitian, whose cruelties 
had rendered him suspicious, for lining a portico in which he 
was accustomed to walk, that he might see the images of any 
secret foe reflected by the polished surface. According to 
one interpretation of Pliny, the walls of Nero's Golden Palace 
were covered with Phengite, while another represents him as 
saying that Nero built the Temple of Fortune, enclosed in 
this palace, of Phengite, which, from its brilliancy, partially 
lighted the interior. Corsi identifies the Phengite with the 
Bianco e Giallo — white and yellow — and says it is very rare. 
It has only two colors, white ground and yellow veins, is 
opaque and of unequal fracture. Its opacity does not corres- 
pond to the "transparent stone," but would render it suitable 
for reflecting images. 

Marmor Corinthmin : Giallo Tigrato. — "Tigrato" is a 
misnomer; the spots on the marble resemble those of the 
leopard, and not the stripes of the tiger : it should have been 
called Leopardo. 

Corinth, one of the most famous cities of ancient Greece, 



298 LIMESTONES AND MARBLES. 

was built on the side of the Acrocorinthus, a mountain rising 
one thousand nine hundred feet above the plain, on the Isth- 
mus of Corinth. It was near this city, and probably from this 
mountain, that the rare and beautiful Corinthium or Giallo 
tigrato was quarried. At the time Corinth was captured by 
the Roman Consul Mummius, B. C. 145, it contained a large 
number of the most beautiful works of art found in Greece, 
which were either destroyed or carried off to Rome ; and it is 
probable that then, or subsequently, this Corinthian marble 
found its way thither. The ground is tawny yellow, with 
orbicular pieces of deeper yellow, resembling the spots of the 
leopard ; it takes a fine polish, and is admirably adapted for 
the sculpture of that animal. Examples of the Giallo tigrato are 
found in the Vaticum Museum, in the Church of S. Andrea 
della Valle, and in the tomb of Cardinal Toledo, in the Church 
of S. Maria Maggiore. 

Marmor Batthium.: Bigio Antico. Ancient Gray. — Corsi 
says it is not known where this marble was quarried ; the 
name possibly may have been derived from the Battiadae, a 
succession of kings of Cyrene, in the northern part of Africa. 
The first king of the line emigrated from Greece B. C. 631, 
and founded Cyrene, which became a flourishing city. Its 
ruins are extensive, comprising a great variety of works of 
Greek art, and an examination of these remains might throw 
some light upon the subject. 

The Bigio antico is gray, as the name implies, with spots, 
waves, and bands of commingled black and white. When the 
spots are all black or all white it receives the name of Bigio 
brecciato; when it contains fossil shells, it is Bigio luma- 
chellato ; when the veins are bluish-white, it is called Bigio 
venato, as in the large Lion in the Gallery of Animals. The 
massive columns near the door of the Church of Santa Croce, 
in Gerusalemme, were cut from this marble. 

Marmor Proconnesium : Bianco e Nero. — There are four 
species of antique black and white marbles, obtained from 
different countries, bearing the name of Bianco e Nero, found 



ANTIQUE MARBLES. 299 

in the ruins of ancient buildings. One of these localities is 
an island in the Sea of Marmora, so called from the marble 
it yields, and known to the ancients as Proconnesus — 
Fawn Island. It is mentioned by Strabo that large quanti- 
ties of excellent white marble were found in this island, and 
that the most beautiful works in the cities of that region, 
particularly Cyzacus, a Greek town celebrated for its magnifi- 
cent buildings, were made of it. The black and white marble 
of Proconnesus, sometimes called Marmor Cyzicum, was used 
in the decoration of the palace, and, probably, the tomb of 
Mausolus at Halicarnassus. 

The Bianco e Nero antico, found in Italy, and identified 
by Corsi with the Proconnesium, contains fossil shells, often 
distinctly visible. There are four columns of this marble in 
the High Altar of the Church of S. Cecilia in Trastevere, 
Rome. 

Marmor Celticum : Bianco e Nero di Francta. — As the 
name indicates, this species of marble was obtained from 
France, whence the Romans brought many ornamental stones. 
The black ground is interspersed with small reticulated veins 
and 'spots of a milky white ; the colors have less vigor and 
lustre than the Proconnesium. 

Marmo Bianco e Nero d' Egitto. — This marble is known 
only by its modern name of White and Black of Egypt, but it 
is supposed to belong to that country, or some adjacent region, 
from the fact that many of the sculptured Egyptian idols and 
animals in the Museum of the Capitol were cut in this antique 
stone ; the white shells, retaining their natural form, constitute 
the small spots exhibited in a very black cement, and, like all 
the other black and white marbles, it receives a beautiful 
polish. 

Marmo Bianco e Nero Tigrato. — The name of this marble 
gives no clue to the place where it was quarried, nor the title 
by which it was called in ancient times, but as it has been 
found among the ruins it is considered antique. The name 
Tigrato is due to the form and arrangement of the spots ; 



300 LIMESTONES AND MARBLES. 

marble-workers call it Granito tenero, soft granite ; the colors 
tend to reddish and greenish tints. It may be seen in the 
Villa Borghese as blocks for columns. 

Occhio di Pernice: Eye of the Partridge. — This species, 
though found in excavations of buried structures, has not pre- 
served its ancient name or the place of its native mines. 
The ground color is generally a tawny or yellowish-brown, 
with spots inclining to amaranth, sometimes without regular- 
ity, and at others, arranged in circles bearing some resemblance 
to the eye of a partridge. One variety has a base of deep 
peach-blossom, with light-gray spots sprinkled with red, and 
another displays white parallel lines. The High Altar of the 
Church of San Lorenzo in Lucina displays this marble to 
advantage. 

The Occhio di Pernice (CEil de Perdrix), or white garnet, 
from Vesuvius, the Leucite of Dana, is a volcanic substance, 
entirely different from the antique marble of this name. 

Marmor Rhodium : Giallo e Nero. — The island of Rhodes, 
on the coast of Asia Minor, admired for its beauty, fertility, 
and agreeable climate, was the native place of this marble. 
The city of Rhodes, celebrated for its magnificent buildings 
and numerous statues, became the seat of different schools of 
Greek art and oratory. In the harbor was placed the famous 
Statue of the Sun, called the Colossus of Rhodes, sculptured 
by Chares, which, in its brief existence of a little more 
than half a century, acquired the reputation of being one 
of the Wonders of the World. Pliny says that there were 
one hundred and five other colossal statues in the city; 
he also mentions a black marble called Rhodium, with 
gold-colored veins, which corresponds to the Giallo e Nero. 
It has a compact texture and exceedingly brilliant lustre, and 
though rare, may be seen in the mask of the monument of 
Paul III. in St. Peter's. 

Marmo di Cotanello. — This stone is both ancient and mod- 
ern, and is now obtained from Cotanello, north of Rome. It 
was used by the old Romans, as is known by its presence in 



ANTIQUE MARBLES. 3OI 

the ruins, specimens having been found in the villa of Lucul- 
lus, near the ancient city of Torracino. It is employed in 
the churches of modern Rome, and one of the most con- 
spicuous examples of this use is the immense columns in St. 
Peter's of the Vatican. The marble displays several colors, 
red, purple, gray, and yellow, none of them very vivid ; some- 
times it presents the appearance of a large breccia. 

III. Limiachellas : Shell marbles. — Many of the most 
beautiful marbles, both ancient and modern, belong to this 
class, but only two species of antiques have preserved their 
earlier names. The first of these is the 

Marmor Megarense : Ltmiachella Bianca Antica. — Megaris, 
whose chief city was Megara, constituted a territory of ancient 
Greece, on a strip of land between the Corinthian and Saronic 
Gulfs. The marble called Megarense was quarried near the 
city, and undoubtedly was used in the construction of the 
public buildings, of which there were many. The black and 
white ground, delicately shaded, is studded with extremely 
small shells. Cicero is said to allude to statues of this marble, 
but there is no mention made of any work of art that has 
been preserved sculptured in Megarense, and it is very 
rarely found in the ruins. 

Marmor Schistos : Broccatello Antico. — The antique name 
Schistos, " split stone," was given to this marble on account 
of its laminated structure. Ajasson thinks the Schistos of 
Pliny was the mineral called limonite, a hydrous oxide, bear- 
ing no resemblance in composition to marble. Its modern 
name, Brocatello, from broccato, brocade, a fabric woven with 
gold, is in allusion to its prevailing color. This rich marble 
was and still is quarried near Tortosa, Catalonia, in the north- 
ern part of Spain. The ancient Romans used it in great 
abundance, judging from the quantities found in the excava- 
tions, and it is employed in the modern buildings of Italy, as 
may be seen in the decorations of the Vatican Museum and 
other places. 



302 LIMESTONES AND MARBLES. 

The Brocatello is composed of fragments of shells of differ- 
ent shades of lively yellow, embedded in a calcareous cement, 
passing from light yellow to violet or crimson. When the 
colors are all yellows the marble is called Orientale, a name 
of no significance, as it did not come from the east ; when 
mixed with violet it is named Broccatello di Spagna. The 
characteristic fossil is said to be the Anomia, a MoUusk found 
in the Cretaceous and Tertiary periods. 

Lumachella d'Egitto. — This marble is found in ruins in 
the form of paving-stones, but the place where it was quarried 
is not known ; a very large mass was discovered in a vineyard 
near Testaccio. There is no reason for calling it Egyptian, 
since there is no proof that it was brought from Egypt. 
The ground is white with embedded oyster-shells of blue- 
gray or black, the shells varying in size but always uni- 
form in color. Two rare varieties are sometimes found, one 
with yellow base, and the other with coral red. The crown 
of the bust of the Gordian Juno, in the Capitol Moiseum, is 
considered to be sculptured in this species. 

Lumachella d' Astracane. — The original place of the Astra- 
cane is not well established, though the name suggests Astra- 
can, celebrated in the romances of the middle ages, a Russian 
territory, with its capital of the same name, on the Volga, 
near the Caspian. Ancient authors make no mention of this 
place, though Albania, a country south of it, came under 
Roman jurisdiction. Some writers have supposed that this 
marble came from the region of the Ganges, but that does 
not explain the origin of the name. Corsi does not pretend 
to have any knowledge on the subject other than that it was 
found in the ruins of Rome. He probably had not seen 
Pinkerton on Rocks, who says the name Astracan is a mis- 
take ; it should be Costrican, the name of mountains in Syria 
from which the marble was obtained. He mentions a variety 
of a deep brown color, with shells of gold or orange-yellow of 
a circular form. Pinkerton's Costrican marble may be iden- 
tical with the Astracan, though there is room for doubt. 



ANTIQUE MARBLES. 3O3 

The two principal varieties have been classed by marble- 
cutters as masculine and feminine ; the latter of a light-yellow, 
the former deep-yellow, tending to green and sometimes with 
red spots. Examples of this marble are seen in the balus- 
trades around the High Altar of the Church of S. Andrea 
della Valle and the two columns in the garden of the* Cor- 
sini Palace. A very rare and beautiful variety is of a flesh- 
color. 

Astracajte Dorato. — This marble has been claimed as a 
variety of the former, but Corsi thinks they have nothing in 
common, and form separate species. The characteristic fossils 
are the Ostrea and the Turbo, the latter producing very 
beautiful effects ; the rarest and most valued varieties have 
crimson or purple ground with gold shadings. A fine instance 
is seen in the Church of S. Maria della Scala, in Trastevere, 
forming the steps of the third altar on the left ; and another 
in the Fountain of Borghese. 

Ltimachellone Antico. — A paving-stone found in the ex- 
cavations, a kind of Lumachella, which, from the large size 
of the pieces, is called Lumachellone. The bluish-gray 
cement contains small shells resembling Ionic volutes ; prob- 
ably they are Ammonites. 

The Lumachella Nera has a deep-black ground with very 
small fragments of the Anomia and the Tellina, and is found 
in the Church of S. Augustino, last altar on the right ; and in 
the presbytery of S. Maria in Via Lata. 

LtimacJiella Rossa. — It is said that among the paving- 
stones of Rome there was found a small block of lumachella 
differing from all others, presenting a deep-red base, covered 
with small, white circles, arranged in regular order, which 
may have been Encrinites. The graceful form of the fossils 
and the harmony of the colors render this species one of the 
most beautiful of shell marbles. 

Lumachella Rosea is the name of a species with rose-colored 
ground, and small, whitish shells, similar inform to melon-seeds. 
It is rare, only two examples being mentioned, one in the 



304 LIMESTONES AND MARBLES. 

large columns on the ground floor of the Sciarra Palace, 
Rome, and the other in the Oxford Collection made by 
Corsi. 

There are several other species of antique shell marbles 
with modern names to designate the color : Lumachella bigia, 
with ash-colored ground and white shells resembling the 
Anomia, a rare variety ; Lumachella gialla, pale-yellow, often 
with crimson spots, found only in the fragment of a column ; 
Lumachella pavonazza, composed of Encrinites, Belemnites, 
and Sea-stars, of white or rose color, in a violet cement, form- 
ing a very beautiful marble but exceedingly rare. Another 
species of lumachella, yielding more specimens, is the Occhio 
di Pavone. 

The fossil Anomia is characteristic of this marble, and pre- 
sents a circular form in whatever way it is cut. This uni- 
formity has given rise to the name Peacock's Eye, with addi- 
tional epithets to designate the prevailing color; as, rosso, 
when this ground is deep-red with white shells, a rare and 
beautiful variety ;. bianco, when the cement is grayish-white; 
nero, black ground and white fossils, a rare variety ; roseo, 
rose-colored shells in white cement ; pavonazzo, purple ground 
with obscure white fossils. The most highly-valued variety 
is seen in two large columns in the Vatican Library. 

Under the title Stellaria are classed those fossiliferous 
marbles presenting the appearance of stars arranged about a 
centre; the ground is generally whitish, and the stars ivory- 
white, passing to brighter yellow; sometimes the base is red 
and the fossils grayish-white. 

Shell marbles were valued less in ancient than in modern 
times, and this may be the reason why their antique names, 
if they had any, and a knowledge of the places from which 
they were obtained, have not been communicated to us by 
ancient writers. The fact that they are generally found 
only in fragments is evidence that they were not extensively 
employed by the Romans. 



ANTIQUE MARBLES. 305 

IV. Breccie Antiche : Antique Breccias. — Breccias, as is 
well known, are formed of broken fragments of rocks, some- 
times entirely of marble, sometimes of other stones, and 
frequently of several species combined, held together by a 
cementing substance, usually carbonate of lime. These con- 
glomerates, when admitting of a polish, often form very 
beautiful ornamental stones. They differ from the clouded 
and veined marbles, not only in the manner of their formation, 
but in the disposition of the colored portions, being without 
regular order, and the size of the spots varying from very 
small fragments to very large. 

They were known to the ancients under the name of the 
marble of Scyros, one of the Sporades, celebrated in the myth- 
ical ages of Greece, and for its quarries of variegated marble ; 
they were also called the marble of Hierapolis, the name of 
a city in Phrygia and of another in Syria. Strabo relates 
that the public and private buildings of Rome are ornamented' 
with beautiful and variegated stones from Chios and Aleppo, 
so that columns and tablets are formed of different marbles 
united in one and the same marble ; this description answers 
to the character of breccias. The specific names of antique 
breccias, known to the Romans, are lost, but the substance, 
being less perishable, has been preserved in the ruins of their 
buildings. 

Mai'mor Lydiicm : Rosso Brecciato. — This is the only spe- 
cies of breccia, according to the Roman archaeologist so often 
quoted, to which its corresponding Latin name can be as- 
signed with any certainty. Lydia, a province of Asia IMinor, 
was the seat of several eminent ancient cities, — Philadelphia, 
Ephesus, Smyrna, Sardis, and Thyatira, all more or less 
renowned for their public buildings and works of art ; but all 
have perished except Smyrna. Mount Tmolus, near which 
Sardis was built, extends under the sea to the Island of Chios, 
from which the marble called Chium or Africano was obtained ; 
and it is probable the range yielded breccias. 

The Lydium is composed of white fragments of different 



306 LIMESTONES AND MARBLES. 

sizes, cemented by a lively red paste, forming a species of 
which there are but few specimens. 

Breccia di Aleppo. — This is the modern name of a stone 
which has caused considerable doubt among antiquaries as to 
its native place. Some have referred it to Aleppo, in Syria, 
a very ancient city, if, as is supposed, it is the same as the 
Hebah mentioned in the book of Judges, and the Helbon 
of Ezekiel ; but it is said there is not satisfactory proof that 
the breccia was obtained from Syria, though perhaps it is as 
likely to have been found there as anywhere else, as breccias 
are very abundant in that country. 

Another place claiming to be the original source of the 
Breccia di Aleppo, is Aix in France ; this is on the authority 
of Brongniart, who says that the Breche d'Aleppe did not 
come from Syria, and should be called Breche d' Alert, from 
the pls.ce whence it was found. As there is so much uncer- 
tainty about its origin a change of name seems unadvisable. 

It is composed of gray, red, brown, and black fragments, 
commingled with a predominance of yellow. In the Gallery 
of the Candelabri there is a small column of this rare and 
beautiful species of marble. 

Breccia Dorata. — The name " golden " was given to this 
variety on account of the clear yellow, passing from orange to 
oil tints, which characterizes the marble. The cement is 
purple, of variable shades, sometimes passing to flesh-color, 
but considerably marked by small yellow fragments ; in a 
rare variety these pieces are encircled by fine, red lines, 
or are dotted with purple. This breccia is highly prized for 
its exceeding beauty, but it is seldom seen in any collection. 

Other yellow breccias, differing in some respects from 
the Dorata, are found in two columns of an atlar, in the 
Church of S. Maria della Vittoria ; and it is said a very 
rare specimen is preserved in the Villa Godoy or the Palace 
Mattel. 

Breccia Corallina. — The Corallina receives its name from 
, the color of its cement, which is frequently of a coral red, 



\ 



ANTIQUE MARBLES. " 307 

sometimes vivid, but often pale, when it is less beautiful and 
less valued ; the fragments are a clear, obscure, or yellowish- 
white, varying in size from very small to very large. It is 
quite abundant, though it is not known where it was quarried. 
Fine examples are seen in the four columns of the portico in 
the Casino of the Rospigliost Palace and in the Church of S. 
Prisca. 

An extrem.ely rare breccia of flesh-tinted ground and rose- 
red fragments, called Breccia Color di Rosa, has been found 
in the ruins, but only in very small pieces 

Breccia Gialla e Neva. — Black and gray fragments in a 
cement of brilliant yellow resembling gold, sometimes passing 
to light-green, with spots distinct or reticulated, constitutes 
this beautiful marble, which may be studied in two columns of 
a chapel in the Church of S. Andrea della Valle, and in the 
Basin for Holy Water in the Church of S. Carlo a Catinari. 

Breccia della Villa Adria7ia. — The Emperor Hadrian dis- 
tinguished his reign by the erection of magnificent public 
works in the cities of his extensive empire, and splendid 
structures for his private use ; of the latter were his mauso- 
leum (the Castle of St. Angelo), and his celebrated villa at 
Tibur, now Tivoli. In the grounds of this villa, embracing 
many square miles, various buildings were constructed, meet- 
ing the wants of a large town, including palaces, academies, 
and theatres; while to diversify the scenery there were 
representations of the Elysium, Tartarus, Alpheus, Vale of 
Tempe, and other places of Greek celebrity. Innumerable 
works of art adorned the buildings and grounds, many of which 
are seen in the churches and museums of modern times. In 
this valuable treasury of antiques was found the beautiful 
breccia called by the name of this famous villa. It is also 
known as Breccia Quintilina, from the Villa Ouintilius Varus, 
near Hadrian's, and it has been inappropriately called English 
breccia. 

. Many of the fragments of this marble are of the color of 
burnt coffee, while others are of a lively red, yellow, green, 



308 LIMESTONES AND MARBLES. 

purple, and sometimes white and black, the whole producing 
an agreeable harmony. Examples of this stone, which exists 
only in small pieces, are seen in the Churches of S. Andrea 
dellaValle, S.S. Domenico e Sisto, and S. Pudenziana. 

Breccia Traccagnina. — A small column in the room of the 
Dying Gaul, in the Museum of the Capitol, was cut from a 
marble bearing this fantastic name. It was so called from its 
fancied resemblance to the mask of an actor, and for the 
same reason it has also been styled Arlechina, "harlequin." 
The breccias known by these names enclose fragments of 
different and opposite colors, though each variety is character- 
ized by some prevailing tint, for which it receives a distinctive 
title, as nera, when black predominates ; persichina, when 
the pieces are yellowish-gray ; and cenerine, when they are 
ash-color. A brick-red, enclosing red, gray, and black pieces, 
constitutes a rare variety, but the most valued has white, red, 
and bluish fragments in a gold-yellow cement. 

Breccia Pavoitazza. — Purple is the prevailing tint of the 
paste, though it admits of many shades, while the fragments 
vary in color, and sometimes the entire mass is of different 
shades of purple. 

An urn in a chapel of S. Antonio de Portuguese is cut in 
a variety displaying white clouds on a purple ground. Some- 
times this breccia is distinguished for red and gray, or yellow 
and green fragments, while not unfrequently the same marble 
unites all these hues, but for harmony and delicacy of coloring 
a clear purple with red and white surpasses all others. Two 
columns in the Church of S. Maria in Via afford specimens of 
this variously colored breccia. 

Breccia a Seme Santo. — This whimsical name, ** sacred 
seeds," has been given to a peculiar variety of breccia, from an 
imaginary likeness it bears to a kind of confectionery of dif- 
ferent colors, resembling seeds, and used to disguise medicine 
for children. The ground is dark-purple, chocolate, or yellow- 
ish, scattered over with small white, yellow, or gray fragments, 
looking somewhat like the seeds of plants. It is thought the 



ANTIQUE MARBLES. 3O9 

quarries were in Egypt, from the fact that an Egyptian idol, 
found in the Vatican, was sculptured in this marble. 

Breccia Bianca e Nera. — This stone is not identical with 
the White and Black marble previously described, but forms 
a species by itself. The white fragments in a black or gray- 
ish brown paste assume regular figures, constituting a rare 
variety. 

A beautiful marble of a clear red cement enclosing the 
Ostrea, with fragments of delicate red, green, gray, and gold- 
color, of an elliptical form, constitutes what is called Breccia 
rossa. 

Breccia di Sette Basi. — Accepting the opinion of Corsi, 
this marble was found in the ruins of the Villa of Septimius 
Bassus, near Roma Vecchia, on the Via Appia, and the term 
Sette Basi is a corruption of the old Roman name. 

There were several persons known by the patronymic Bas- 
sus, one of whom was destroyed with his villa by an eruption 
of Vesuvius, and could not have been the one intended. 
There are extensive ruins at Roma Vecchia, said to be those 
of the Villa of the Quintilii, near the town of Sette Bassi. 
However the marble received its name, the probability is 
quite strong that it was obtained from this region. 

The principal colors are deep-red, yellow, and purple, well 
covered by oblong fragments, which, from their arrangement, 
give the breccia a peculiar character. The pieces are yellowish 
or opal white, and sometimes other colors, like Seme Santo ; 
the most beautiful variety displays red spots inclining to rose. 
When the colors are intermingled, it is called fiarita, 
** flowered;" when circular, mendolata, "almond." Near 
Mount Testaccio, an artificial mound within the walls of 
Rome, composed of rubbish, great quantities of this breccia 
have been found, and named Semesantone di Testaccio, or a 
large kind of Seme Santo. A good specimen is seen in the 
Room of the Dying Gaul, Capitol Museum. Breccia verde, 
or green breccias, are very rare, unless the African green 
marble and the Verde antique are classed with them. 



310 LIMESTONES AND 'MARBLES. 

Eight columns in the Church of S. Maria in Ara Coeli, 
Rome, are made of Broccatellone, a kind of large brocatello, 
with delicate purple ground and canary-yellow fragments. 

Breccia Verde d' Egitto. — Among the ancient conglome- 
rates was the highly-prized Egyptian stone quarried in Upper 
Egypt, called "universal breccia" on account of the great 
number of species of rocks it encloses. The ground color is 
nearly always green, while the fragments of porphyry, gran- 
ite, basalt, and quartz, of medium size, are of different colors, 
including shades of green, passing to yellowish or reddish 
tints. Specimens of this remarkable breccia are seen in the 
Palace of the Conservatori, at the Capitol ; in an elegant vase 
with a band of white quartz, in the Vatican Museum, and in 
the Villa Albani. 

The antique breccias bearing modern names were all known, 
it is presumed, to the ancient Romans, and employed in their 
buildings, since they have been found in the excavations, but 
their Latin names and native quarries have not yet been dis- 
covered. 

Marmor Lunense : Bardiglio. — Strabo says that the Lu- 
nense marbles used by the Romans included white statuary 
and other varieties, marked with blue tending to clear gray, 
not green, as it is rendered by some translators. The Bar- 
diglio is compact, fine-grained, of pure flesh-white or gray, 
covered with veins, spots, or clouds of very deep purple 
tending to black. Specimens of the antique are numerous 
in mediaeval buildings, while the modern, which is identical, 
may be seen in any of the establishments of foreign marble 
importers. 

Marmor Argillosus : Pisana. — Tradition assigns to Pisa a 
very great antiquity, accounting it as founded by Greeks from 
Pisa in Elis, the companions of Nestor, on their return from 
the Trojan war. After it was incorporated with the Roman 
Empire it was embellished with triumphal arches, theatres, 
and temples ; but few vestiges of its ancient glory remain, 
and it is better known for its marble quarries. 



Plate XXII. 




FioR Di Persico. 






(u, 



V^t .<»i 










'\..- 



f 



Porta Santa. 



ABMaTROii« A Co. Utm. BoiTon. 



1 



ANTIQUE MARBLES. 3II 

The modern argillaceous marble of Pisa, called Lithomarge, 
is supposed to be identical with the antique. Though soft 
and easily cut, it is very compact and takes a fine polish. 
The small fissures, filled with a ferruginous substance, often 
assume fantastic forms representing various objects; when 
trees, plants, or vegetable masses are simulated it is called 
Dendrite; if rocks, walls, and ruined castles are imitated, it 
becomes Ruin-marble; when the lines represent doubtful 
forms, it is said to be Varioform ; and when unicolored, or simply 
veined, it is merely Lithomarge. The latter variety, used by 
the ancients and still found in the quarries of Tuscany, yields 
a marble of different shades of vivacious green ; the dendritic 
displays nearly always a yellow ground with black herbage, 
and is thought to be the same as the Ciottoli d' Arno, "peb- 
bles of the Arno," so much used in Florentine mosaics. 

Dendrite, being found only in small masses, was not much 
used by the ancients, though specimens have been discovered 
in the Villa of Hadrian, but Ru'in-marble, existing in larger 
pieces, was in great demand for the pavements of buildings. 
A variety with red ground and bluish-gray veins was employed 
by the Romans in the Baths of Titus, cut in the form of rhom- 
boids, and used with Palombino marble, producing a fine effect. 

The poet Statins is said to be the only classical writer who 
mentions the marbles of Liguria or Genoa. This region 
abounds in green stones, called serpentines, and it is thought 
one species of green and white serpentine, styled granite, 
from Liguria, was included among the antiques, as the term 
marble was formerly, and is at the present time, frequently 
applied to all stones capable of a polish and used for archi- 
tectural decoration. 

Lapis LigiistictLS : Granito di Genova, — This stone is 
known by so many different names that it is in danger of 
losing its identity entirely; Verde Serpentino, Granito di 
Genova, Serpentino di Genova, Verde Plasmatico Granito, 
Polcevera or Polsevera Green, have all been assigned to the 
Lapis Ligusticus. 



312 LIMESTONES AND MARBLES. 

It is composed of deep-green serpentine, white feldspar, and 
chatoyant diallage, approaching the color of brass, and on 
account of its hardness has been called by artisans granite. 
Vases of this stone, which has been pronounced identical 
with the modern serpentines of Liguria, are seen in the Gallery 
of the Candelabri, in the Vatican. 

Marmor Tauromenmm : Diaspro Tenero di Sicilia, "Sofi 
Sicilimi Jasper!' — The city of Taormina, ancient Taurome- 
nium, in Sicily, was named for Mount Taurus, on which it 
was built about four centuries before the Christian era. It 
was celebrated for its splendid theatre, cut out of the natural 
rock, and said to be capable of holding from thirty thousand 
to forty thousand spectators. 

Sicily has yielded, both in ancient and modern times, an 
abundance of colored stones for architecture, but the best 
known is the Taormina marble, or Sicilian jasper, found near 
the city from which it received its name. The form and color 
of the bands found in this marble resemble those of jasper, 
which is abundant in the island, and for this reason it is called 
Sicilian or soft jasper. It is fine, compact, and easy to cut, 
and is distinguished from all other veined marbles by the 
variety of the clouding and the want of harmony in the colors. 
A green band is often next to a yellow, and both crossed by 
red veins ; other extravagances occur which render it a showy, 
but not a pleasing ornamental stone ; the veins are not well 
disposed and the colors are deficient in vivacity. 

This marble was very generally used in mediaeval architec- 
ture, and is seen also in many of the churches of a later 
period. It is not clear that the ancient Romans employed 
this variety, though it is evident that they used the siliceous 
jaspers, and perhaps the Sicilian marble, with purple ground 
and grayish, triangular figures, seen in S. Dionigi. and other 
churches. 



CHAPTER XXI. 

ANTIQUE ALABASTERS, SERPENTINES, BASALTS, GRANITES, AND 

PORPHYRIES. 

I. Alabasters, — Among the decorative stones of antiquity 
remarkable for beauty and elegance, vivacity of color, variety 
and precision of spots, translucency and brilliancy of lustre, 
oriental alabasters are entitled to a pre-eminent rank. The 
ancient Romans regarded them worthy to be used for the 
statues of gods and emperors. 

Calcareous alabasters, those formed of carbonate of lime, 
having the same constituents as marble, are very properly 
classed with them, though they differ from them in some 
respects. 

The antique, oriental alabasters of Asia and Africa are more 
beautiful and varied than those of Europe, consequently they 
were more sought after for art purposes. They are mentioned 
by the earliest writers, sfiowing that their value as a decorative 
stone was understood by the most ancient nations. The 
onyx mentioned in Genesis ii: 12 has been considered by 
some Biblical scholars to mean alabaster ; and the old classic 
writers use the word onyx when speaking of alabaster, and 
say it was found in Egypt, Arabia, Syria, and other places. 
Near the city of Thebes, in Egypt, according to Pliny, there 
was a castle called Alabaster in the neighborhood of the quar- 
ries, from which the onyx first took the name alabaster. 

A savant, M. Jomard, who accompanied the French expe- 
ition into Egypt, relates the following: The ruins of the 

313 



314 LIMESTONES AND MARBLES. 

city of Alabaster are still seen near Gebel Khaly, upon the 
road to the Monastery of S. Antonio, in the desert between 
the Nile and the Red Sea, near quarries of marble called 
alabaster. So large a number of carts were used to trans- 
port the stone that one of the cities near the desert was 
named A'rabah, meaning cart. Upon the road leading to 
A'rabah are scattered many fragments of alabaster and other 
precious marbles of different colors. This was probably the 
"Marble Country," Blad Recam of modern Egypt. 

The Arabian and the Egyptian alabasters were used in the 
manufacture of vases for holding unguents, balsams, and other 
articles of perfumery, because this stone was thought to pos- 
sess peculiar qualities for keeping these substances incorrupt. 
From the constant practice of using alabaster for this purpose, 
by a figure of rhetoric, the name of the material of which it 
was made was applied to the vessel ; hence the expression 
"an alabaster," or "an onyx," used by ancient writers, meant 
an alabaster vase of balsam or some other precious substance. 
Horace speaks of an alabaster of nard, another writer of an 
alabaster of unguents, or alabaster unguents, and in designat- 
ing different kinds of vases, one is styled an alabaster, and 
sometimes the name was applied to vases made of other 
materials. Upon the head of our Saviour was poured an 
alabaster box of precious balm of spikenard. 

This beautiful stone, at first used only for vases, was subse- 
quently used for other articles, and for columns. Assuming 
that the ancients were correct in using onyx and alabaster as 
interchangeable terms, when speaking of this marble, we find 
an early recognition of its value in the enumeration made of 
the costly materials collected by King David for the building 
of the Temple at Jerusalem. In i Chronicles xxix: 2, we 
read of onyx stones, glistering stones, and of divers colors, and 
all manner of precious stones and marbles in abundance. 

At first alabaster was very rare in ancient Rome, but as 
wealth, and consequently the desire for luxuries increased, the 
Romans sought the most beautiful and costly alabasters to 



ANTIQUE ALABASTERS. 315 

ornament their public and private buildings. Cornelius Bal- 
bus, a contemporary with Julius Caesar, placed in his theatre, 
as something remarkable, four small columns of alabaster ; 
but in Pliny's time, the first century of the Christian era, 
there were thirty large columns of alabaster in the hall built 
by Callistus, in the reign of Claudius. That there must have 
been large quantities of this stone introduced into Rome 
during the Empire, seems certain from its frequent use in 
mediaeval architecture. The largest, most rare, and most 
beautiful mass of alabaster seen in this city, says Corsi, is 
a fluted column, twenty-seven palms in height, in the Villa 
Albani. 

The varieties of alabaster are very numerous, and their 
names are due to some peculiarity of formation, veins, or 
color, often fanciful, sometimes striking ; as in allusion to 
color, Cotognino, Sardonico ; to the arrangements of clouds, 
Fortezzino, Tartaruga, Pecorella ; to the formation, Giaccone, 
Pomato. 

The colors are greatly diversified, passing from a clear white 
to a deep black, and, though rarely, these extremes are some- 
times united in the same variety, an example of which 
occurs in the pavement of a chapel in S. Andrea della Valle. 
Yellow, purple, green, red, blue, in all their gradations, are 
found in alabasters. A particular description is given of 
the more important species. 

Alabastro Bimico, — This variety surpasses in whiteness all 
other stones, even statuary marble. Pliny says it was quar- 
ried near Damascus, and that the most valuable came from 
Carmania, the next in quality from India, while the least 
valued was from Cappadocia, Asia Minor. It is stated that 
the white alabaster was also obtained from Thebes, in Egypt, 
while another species, known to the ancients, and used for 
windows, was found in Arabia and in the .Taurus Mountains, 
which may have been the same as the Tabreez marble now 
obtained from Persia. The white opaque and the diophanous 
varieties are sometimes found in the same marble, and one or 



3l6 LIMESTONES AND MARBLES. 

the Other is banded. The finest example of white alabaster 
is seen in a column in the Vatican Library. 

The alabaster stone was found near Damascus, mentioned 
in the history of Abraham, and near Thebes, called No in the 
Scriptures, and considered one of the oldest cities in the world, 
having reached the height of its splendor sixteen centuries 
before the Christian era; it is possible, therefore, that those 
extremely ancient cities may have been embellished by the 
same kind of stones seen to-day in the buildings of Rome and 
other Italian towns. 

Alabastro Cotognino. — A semi-transparent alabaster of 
white inclining to yellow is called Cotognino from its resem- 
blance to the color of the quince. When the color and tex- 
ture is uniform it is called schietto, *' pure," and venato when 
it has opaque bands. All alabasters not of a clear white, but 
inclining to gray or green, are sometimes called Cotognino. 
An example of this kind is seen in the six columns of the 
Basilica of St. Paul. 

A variety of Cotognino, formed of small, round particles 
resembling ice, of a honey-yellow, is called Pomato, a corrup- 
tion, it is said, of pomellato, which may signify dappled, like 
an apple ; it forms a very beautiful stone, and resembles the 
alabaster called Sardonyx. 

Alabastro a Giaccione. — This variety was formed by the 
aggregation of conical or triangular crystals united by adhe- 
sion among themselves, from which it receives the name 
Giaccione, from giaccio, ice. The colors are generally gray- 
ish-white, honey-yellow, deep red, or violet, sometimes similar 
to quartz amethyst, but it is not easily cut, as the crystals 
often separate under the chisel. There is a cup of this spe- 
cies in the Museum of the Vatican. 

Alabastro a Oiiice. : Onyx. — Although the term onyx was 
formerly used to designate all calcareous alabasters, it is spe- 
cifically applied to a kind with white, gray, yellowish, or 
reddish bands, either curved or straight, occasionally square 
or triangular. 



ANTIQUE ALABASTERS. 31/ 

Alabastro a Nuvole : Clouded. — In the Confessio of St. 
Peter's, of the Vatican, are four columns of this variety. The 
ground is one color, passing to red, yellow, or peach-blossom, 
covered with round spots of a different color, white or gray, 
and sometimes blended. 

Alabastro a Occhi. — Thi"s species receives its name from 
the circular or elliptical spots, thought to resemble eyes, 
arranged upon a base of one color, generally yellow, though 
sometimes gray. The spots are white or gray, disposed with- 
out regularity; and not unfrequently the entire surface is 
crossed by bands of the same color. 

Alabastro a Tartaruga. — In the Capitoline Museum there 
is a bust of Julius Caesar sculptured in this species of alabas- 
ter, but it has never been found in the excavations, except in 
small pieces. The colors are of different shades of yellow 
and very deep red, passing to nearly black, mingled without 
order, representing no particular figure, but havmg one color 
or the other quite prominent. From its resemblance to the 
shell of a tortoise it is called Tartaruga. 

The Alabastro Sadonico is not inappropriately compared to 
the oriental sardonyx, since the color and form of the bands 
in these two stones, unlike in composition, are very similar. 
The alabaster has a saccharoidal structure, with the ground 
of one color and bands of another. A vase in the Vatican 
Museum and a bust of Faustina in the Museum of the Capi- 
tol, are said to be cut in this variety. 

Alabastro a Pecorella. — This peculiar name, " flock of 
sheep," was given to a species of alabaster of a deep-red, with 
thick masses of white of nearly the same size, regularly dis- 
posed, which a lively fancy might compare to sheep ; each spot 
representing one of these animals is enclosed by three white, 
separate lines, as if constituting a fold. This variety of the 
Pecorella differs from all others, and never varies in color or 
the form of the clouds. 

There are other varieties, called Pecorella, differing from 
the red and white, as white ground and purple clouds, both 



3l8 LIMESTONES AND MARBLES. 

base and spots consisting of different shades of red, and yellow 
ground with clouds of a delicate shade. An example of the 
last is afforded in the bust of Tiberias, Capitol Museum. 

The red and white Pecorella frequently simulates natural 
objects ; sometimes representing animal, at other times vege- 
table forms, as certain grasses and mosses ; and when the 
colors are blended it is called ''flowered." In the collection 
of marbles made by Corsi for the University of Oxford, he 
says that in one specimen there was a representation of a 
peacock as faithful as the pencil could delineate. The rarest 
and most beautiful variety presents a clear white ground, with 
small, round spots of rich purple, the whole resembling shell 
marble. Examples are seen in large masses in a court of the 
Vatican. 

Alabastro Fortezzino. — One of the caprices of Nature is to 
anticipate works of art, and this she has done in a certain 
way by the production of what is called Fortification marble, 
or alabaster, representing walls, ramparts, towers, turrets, 
parapets, embrasures, and other features of a fortress. A 
variety of this species is called *'fasciato" when the colors 
form straight bands. 

Alabastro Fiorito, "flowered," does not indicate the arrange- 
ment of the clouds; ''striped" or "veined" would better 
express their appearance ; the size of the stripe varies, some 
being very narrow, while others are of considerable breadth. 
The species has many and beautiful varieties; the kind 
called Melleo, highly prized by the ancients, displays tints of 
honey-yellow, while all the primitive colors, with many grada- 
tions, are seen in the Listato, " striped," variety. A clear 
white alabaster crossed by obscure white lines, forms a column 
placed in the Room of the Dying Gaul, and two large columns 
of. the Fiorito, with green, are in the Palace of Altemps. 
A small statue in the Chiaramonti displays a ground of red 
crossed by bands of rose, green, and white, while the Leopard, 
in the Room of the Animals, is sculptured in a stone said to 
be alabaster, presenting a coffee-colored base with red and 



ANTIQUE ALABASTERS. 319 

white bands ; while a rare and beautiful specimen forms the 
block for a column in the Etruscan Room. The Fiorito 
affords a great variety of colors, including white, gray, black, 
red, blue, orange, yellow, and purple. 

Alabastro a Rosa. — The name sufficiently indicates the 
form of the clouds, — that of the rose, often of the natural 
size, — while the foundation color is generally purple, with the 
rose delineated in fine lines of -various hues, forming one of 
the most beautiful species of alabaster. The varieties are 
quite numerous, comprising red ground with lighter red flow- 
ers ; yellow, ■ with red roses ; white, with black ; and other 
combinations forming varieties. The large Stag in the Vati- 
can affords an example. 

Alabastro Dorato. — The lively golden tint of this alabaster 
has won for it the appropriate name of '' Dorato," but it is the 
color only that distinguishes it from the Rosa, since the form 
of the spots is similar to those of the latter. It is properly 
called Dorato only when both base and clouds are yellow, 
which is very rare, but the name has been applied to varieties, 
as, Dorato a Rosa, a Nuvole, a Giaccione, according as it re- 
sembles these species. A base supporting a head in the Chi- 
aramonti, and a foot of a colossal statue in the Gallery of the 
Candelabri, are sculptured in Dorato. 

Alabastro di Palombara. — Palombara is situated at the 
foot of Monte Gennaro, one of the highest peaks of the 
Sabine Mountains, about twenty miles northeast from Rome ; 
in the ruins of a villa at this place was found this alabaster. 
It differs from all other species dn its uniform opacity, its 
compact fracture, and stratified texture. The basal color is 
white or uniform yellow, the spots are variable in form and 
color, but it more commonly presents chestnut bands upon a 
clear ground ; the colors are gray, white, yellow, coffee-color, 
.and purple, often passing to the deepest shades of the Rosso 
antico. It is very hard and takes a fine polish, and was used 
largely for ancient pavements. The bust of Hadrian in the 
Capitol Museum has erroneously been called Palombara. 



320 LIMESTONES AND MARBLES. 

II. Serpentines. — Lapis Ophites: Verde Ranocchia. — Ser- 
pentines were not extensively employed in ancient art ; the 
best-known species is the Ophites, named from its imitation 
of the serpent's skin, which modern artisans call Ranocchia, 
in allusion to its mottled appearance, like that of the frog. 
This variety is dark-green, with veins and spots of red, purple, 
and green, passing to yellow. Pliny affirms there was but little 
of this serpentine in Rome, and only in the smallest columns ; 
and, in describing the magnificent baths of Etruria, Statius 
observes there was wanting the much-sought Ophites, a state- 
ment corroborated by Corsi, who writes that it is never found 
except in small pieces among the ruins, and that at the Villa 
of Lucullus, near Frascati, he was able to obtain only the lip 
of a cup no larger than a common salt-cellar. 

Lucan, in his Pharsalia, alludes to the Ophites, and calls it 
Thebais, from a province of Egypt ; and as there is a small 
idol of Egyptian sculpture in this stone, in the Vatican, the 
evidence seems to. be in favor of Africa as its native place. 

The Lapis Ophites comprises several varieties, including a 
serpentine entirely green like emerald, one of different greens, 
a third of green with white spots, and others with yellow 
spots; of the last kind is a vase in the Vatican Museum. 
Two large vases in the same collection were made from a 
garnetiferous serpentine found at Smyrna, and brought to 
Rome in the pontificate of Pius VI., 1 775-1 800. The Roman 
mineralogists have given it the title of Braschia, in honor 
of Pius VI., whose name was Braschi, but the stonecutters 
call it Granata, for the garnets it holds. Two other kinds 
of serpentine were known to the ancients, under the names 
of Stone of Augustus and Stone of Tiberius. 

The Lapis AtLgtisteus, or the Italian Verde Ranocchia 
Ondato, " waved," is described by Pliny, who says it was first 
found in Egypt under the rule of Augustus, and was remark- 
able for the beauty of its color. It exhibits a very deep-green 
base with lighter green spots blended with yellow, in the form 
of waves and circles. 



ANTIQUE SERPENTINES. 321 

The Lapis Tiberianus, or Verde Ranocchia Fiorito, has 
been described by the same naturalist, who places it in the 
same rank, and refers it to a similar origin as the Lapis 
Augusteus. It differs from it in appearance, having a green 
foundation with gray bands, or more properly small light- 
colored lines hke reticulated- work, over a dark ground, con- 
stituting a rock similar to the Gabbro of Impruneta, of Tus- 
cany. There is a small Egyptian idol in the Museum of the 
Kircheriano, in the Collegio Romano, said to be carved in this 
stone. 

Lapis Atraciiis : Verde Antico. — This celebrated antique, 
highly valued by the Romans for decoration, has been classed 
both with marbles and serpentines. It was quarried near 
Atrax, on the River Peneus, in Thessaly, from which it re- 
ceived the names Atracius and Thessalian stone. One vari- 
ety has a foundation of lively green with spots of deeper shade 
passing to blue, while another exhibits marks of snow-white or 
clear black; from the union of these colors there results a 
beautiful combination. Examples of this stone are numerous 
in Rome and other Italian cities, but for special reference the 
following may be cited: twenty-four columns forming the 
niches of the Apostles in the Church of St. John Lateran ; 
columns of the High Altar of St. Agnese ; and two large 
tables in the Vatican Museum. 

The Verde antique so nearly resembles a green stone in 
Piedmont that it is difficult to distinguish the ancient from 
the modern. 

Lapis Amiantus : Amianio. — Some mineralogists class 
Amianthus among serpentines, while Dana considers only 
Chrysotile a variety of the Serpentine, and asbestos, the amian- 
thus of the Greeks and Latins, a variety of Amphibole. 

The amianthus is indestructible by fire, and its flexible, silky 
fibres can be woven into cloth. It is related by Pliny that 
a people of India used it for garments, which were cleansed 
by casting them into the fire ; and among the Romans the 
bodies of the deceased were folded in this kind of fabric for 



322 LIMESTONES AND MARBLES. 

cremation, that their ashes might not commingle with those 
of the funeral pile. A shroud of this kind, found in a sar- 
cophagus with human bones on the Via Praenestina, in 1703, 
is preserved in the Vatican Library. 

On account of its peculiar qualities the amianthus has been 
called "incombustible* flax;" ''wool of the salamander;" 
''pens of the Holy Spirit;" and "wood of the Holy Cross." 

The mineral was found in various places : Dioscorides says 
it was obtained from the Island of Cyprus, and Byzantius re- 
lates that near the city of Carystus, in the Island of Euboea, 
besides Cippolino marble, there was a stone whose fibres were 
made into cloth, and that garments made of it were cleansed 
by fire. 

Lapis ^qtdpondus : Pietra Nefritica^ or Nephrite. — A hard, 
compact stone used by the Romans, of dark-green color inclin- 
ing to black, and unctuous to the touch, has been classed both 
with jades and serpentines. It received different names ac- 
cording to its different uses ; when employed for weights and 
balances it was called Marmor ^quipondus, and the manner 
of its use has been described in a treatise on the weights and 
measures of the Romans by Lucus Petus. He says the 
ancients formed weights of certain black stones marked with 
veins of deep-green ; to the largest weight of one hundred 
pounds were attached two hooks or rings, to those of less 
weight, only one hook ; the weight, varying from one hundred 
to four or five pounds, and even one ounce, was sculptured 
upon the stone, the ounces being indicated by points or small 
circles. When the size of the stone was sufficient, there was 
inscribed upon it the name of the questor, to whose charge 
was committed the care of the public weights. Sometimes 
the name of the prefect was inscribed, as is seen in many of 
these antique weights in the Museum Kircheriano. 

In the persecutions of the Christians these weights were 
employed as instruments of martyrdom, and were subse- 
quently called Lapis Martyrum. After being used for this 
purpose they were h.eld in great veneration, and many of them 



'^S. 



ANTIQUE BASALTS. 323 

are embedded in the walls of the churches, being found in S. 
Sabina, S. Clemente, S. Prassede, S. Nicolo of the Tullian 
Prison, and others in Rome. 

III. Basalts. — Lapis Basanites : Basalti. — Basalts, though 
not to be compared with marbles and serpentines for variety, 
beauty, and elegance were, nevertheless, extensively used by 
the ancients for sculpture. Writers do not agree as to the 
use or the origin of the word Basanites, some maintaining 
that it was derived from the Greek Basanos, ''touchstone," 
and others, from Basal, signifying " iron," in the language of 
Ethiopia. This difference of etymology has led to a difference 
of opinion in regard to the character of the rock. Pliny 
speaks of a stone found in Ethiopia of the color and hardness 
of iron, whence the name Basanites, called also Stone of yEthi- 
opia, understood by some authors to be basalt, and by others 
the Lydian stone. The latter is found only in small pieces, 
while the former must have occurred in large masses, judging 
from the size of the groups of figures sculptured in it. 

Basalt is of volcanic origin, hard, compact, tenacious, and 
well-adapted to resist the disintegrating influences of time 
and the atmosphere. It is of dark colors, often black, as in 
the large antique urn of the High Altar in S. Croce in Geru- 
salemme. That it was found in large blocks is evident from 
the group of the Riv^er Nile, placed in the Temple of Peace 
dedicated by the Emperor Vespasian, a copy of which sculp- 
tured in white marble is now in the Vatican Museum. 
Though black is the predominating color, yet green and cof- 
fee-colored varieties are met with, seen in a small Bacchus 
sculptured in coffee-colored basalt, with the restorations in a 
green variety, in the Gallery of the Candelabri. Green ba- 
salts vary in tint from apple-green to greenish-bronze: the 
green and coffee-colored are sometimes united in parallel 
bands. A large and rare bath of green basalt is placed in the 
Court of the Octagon. That this stone was used extensively 
for antique sculpture is evident from the great number of 



324 LIMESTONES AND MARBLES. 

statues, busts, and hermes in the Museums of the Vatican and 
the Capitol. 

Lapis Lydiits: Pietra di Paragoiie. — This hard, black 
stone is not identical with the Basanites of Pliny, if we adopt 
the opinions of Corsi and some others. It had various names 
derived from the places where it was found, or from its uses ; 
as Lydian stone, from a province of Asia Minor ; the Stone 
of Heraclea or Hercules, a city near where it was found ; and 
the Index stone, from its use to detect alloy in metals. As it 
was used to test the value of gold more frequently than that 
of any other metal, it received the name of Chrysites, and 
when cut into small pieces, Corticula, "hard stone." Ovid says 
that Bacchus was once transformed into the Lapis Lydius for 
revealing the theft of oxen made by Mercury. Its modern 
name "paragon " refers to its excellence as a test-stone. 

IV. Granites. — Four kinds of antique granites are found 
in the ruins of Rome : Red or Pyropoecilos ; Gray or Syenite, 
commonly called Granitello ; White or Granite of the Forum ; 
Black or yEthiopian. The red was obtained near the city of 
Syene, on the Nile, the quarries being on the side of the 
mountain from which the stone was extracted for colossi, obe- 
lisks, and pyramids, of extraordinary size. It received the 
name pyropoecilos, " like fire," from the red tint of the feld- 
spar, which displays all the gradations from pale-rose to blood- 
red. It is referred to by ancient writers as the stone from 
which the great obelisks were made, consecrated to the sun, 
by a king of Heliopolis. 

There are in Rome twelve of these red granite obelisks 
brought from Africa ; that of Aurelian on the Pincio is of a 
very deep-red similar to the great columns of the Church of 
S. Maria degli Angeli, near the baths of Diocletian ; the gran- 
ite basin of the fountain in the Piazza di Venezia is of the 
same species. When mica predominates the rock has a 
dark tint, as occurs in one of the Egyptian idols of the Vati- 
• can, and when quartz prevails it is light, as seen in another 



ANTIQUE GRANITES. 325 

Statue. A valuable variety presents deep-red feldspar and 
clear-red quartz, while the rarest exhibits a copper-color. 

The Lapis Syenites : Granito Bigio, is called by the stone- 
masons Granitello antico. It was supposed to be obtained 
from Syene, near the mines of the Red granite, and was called 
Syenite, which later mineralogists refer to Mt. Sinai. It was 
frequently employed by the Romans, and afforded more ex- 
amples than any other kind. It contains but little mica, and 
displays white and gray crystals ; but the most beautiful kind 
encloses copper-colored mica, with a dark-colored ground, 
traversed by short, fine, black lines, forming a remarkably rare 
and elegant stone, seen in a vase of the Vatican Museum, and 
in two columns of the Farnese Palace. 

Lapis Psaronius : Granito del Ford. — It is said that the 
quarries were near Syene, a region remarkable for granites, 
and was called the granite of the Forum because the columns 
of Trajan's Forum were cut from it, and Psaronius, from its 
fancied resemblance to the feathers of the starling, "psaros," 
in Greek. The rock is composed of white quartz and black 
mica, but no feldspar. 

Lapis Hethiopicits : Granito Nero. — Syene, from which 
much of the Egyptian granite was taken, was situated not far 
from the frontiers of Ethiopia, which accounts for the ancient 
name of this species. It is entirely, or for the most part, black, 
and has been sometimes confounded with basalt; that the 
Egyptians employed it for sculpture is proved by idols found 
in collections of African specimens. Veins, bands, and spots 
of a different colored granite often occur in this species, like 
those of the Lions on the steps of the Capitol. Two rare 
columns in the Braccio Nuovo are conspicuous for light- 
colored bands passing around the shafts. The dark crystals 
are occasionally inclined to violet, seen in one of the Egyp- 
tian images, and with white spots tending to red, like the 
two Sphinxes in the Room of the Vases. A black granite, 
with long crystals of feldspar, is sometimes called the " Granite 
of the Column " because the small 'column, which tradition con- 



326 LIMESTONES AND MARBLES. 

nects with the scourging of our Saviour, placed in the Church 
of S. Prassede, is made of this variety. Another kind of white 
and black granite furnishes many specimens in this church 
and in the Villa Albani. 

Granito Verde, or green granite, has not been mentioned by 
any ancient writer, and in consequence of this silence it has 
been classed with serpentines and porphyries. One variety 
of the antique, with green base and irregular spots, some- 
times articulated with veins or threads of white quartz, is 
called Granito della Sedia, because it ornaments the pedestal 
of the Chair of St. Peter. A kind with deep-green, covered 
with fine intersecting lines of light-green, is called Theban 
granite. A small vase in the Villa Albani affords an example 
of the Granito Verde ; the Oxford Collection is said to con- 
tain a rare specimen, if not the only one, of a green granite 
flowered with gray. 

The varieties entirely green, resemble serpentines, por- 
phyries, and green basalts, from which it is difficult to dis- 
tinguish them. The rarest and most highly valued green 
granite has the misfortune of bearing an unpleasantly sug- 
gestive name, — Pediculare, '' lousy." Over a base of greenish 
quartz are scattered the smallest crystals of white feldspar 
and black mica, which nearly obscure the ground color, so that 
it appears a mass of minute green, black, and white spots of 
equal size. A specimen is afforded by a column in the Vati- 
can Museum, and another in the Villa Godoy. 

In an account of the Island of Giglio, on the Tuscan coast, 
written in the sixteenth century, it is reported that a cave of 
reddish granite was discovered containing detached columns, 
and sketches upon stone, indicating that the rock. had been 
quarried before that time. In the early part of the pres- 
ent century the excavations were visited, and previous state- 
ments corroborated ; the quarries are convenient for the em- 
barkation of the stone, and showed indications of having been 
worked. A large part of the island consists of a gray granite, 
combined to a greater or less extent with small masses of a 



Plate XXIII. 




BREcaA r>i Aleppo. 




Egyptian Breccia. 



Akmstkonq & Co. Lira. Bottom. 



I 



ANTIQUE PORPHYRIES. 32/ 

deep-green mineral, probably either hornblende or serpentine, 
which enhances the beauty of the stone. 

Two columns of the granite from the Island of Giglio, 
known in Italy as Granito dell' Isola del Giglio, in the Church 
of S. Croce in Gerusalemme, are grayish-white, tending to 
pale red. This granite was used in the churches built in the 
first centuries of the Christian era. 

Granito delV Elba. — That this species of granite was used 
by the ancients is evident from their monuments, but not 
from their authors, since it is not mentioned by any chronicler 
of the times. Immense quantities of rubbish, usually seen 
about quarries, have been found at different localities on the 
Island of Elba, and in several places large columns with 
drawings hav^e been abandoned in a half-finished state, show- 
ing that it had been used in earlier times. 

The rock is grayish-white, covered with particles of black 
mica, and a grain varying from very small to quite large. 

V. Porphyries. — Lapis Porphyrites: Porfido. — The term 
Porphyrites was given to this species of rock because some 
varieties displayed a purple color. Porphyries were known 
by several names; Purple stone, from the color; Thebaicus, 
from the place in Upper Egypt where it was quarried ; and 
Leucostictos, from the white spots it exhibits. Later writers 
have given it the name Pietra Romana, or Romana, par excel- 
lence, in consequence of the large quantities found in Rome. 
Fine examples of porphyry are seen in the sarcophagi of the 
Hall of the Greek Cross, Vatican Museum, said to be those 
of the mother and daughter of Constantine the Great. Eight 
columns of Pietra Romana, taken from the Temple of the Sun, 
erected at Rome by the Emperor Valerian, were carried to 
Constantinople for the decoration of the Church of St. Sophia. 

The source of antique porphyry has been ascribed both to 
Egypt and Arabia ; the apparent contradiction is explained by 
the fact that the city and Mount Porphyrites, frorn which it was 
quarried, were on the frontiers of both countries. On a small 



328 LIMESTONES AND MARBLES. 

temple at Beylet-kebye, m Egypt, a notice is seen that 
Marcus Ulpius was qualified to superintend the mines of 
porphyry near, proving that the ancient Romans obtained 
some of their supplies from this region. 

The Porfido rosso, red porphyry, considered the most 
valuable, has generally a lively red ground, spotted with clear 
white crystals, seen in the large bath in the Vatican Museum, 
and in columns of the churches of SS. Giovanni in Fronteand 
Crisogono in Trastevere ; or deep-red inclinirtg to purple, with 
obscure white crystals. Differing from these is a variety 
with purple base enclosing large black masses spotted with 
white, and another with gray foundation covered with 
greenish, purple, and rose crystals, like a column of the 
Octagon, in the same Museum. 

Two columns of a window in the Room of the Urns, and a 
small cup in the Room of the Candelabra are cut in the 
Porfido nero, with black ground and white or gray crystals. 
Porfido verde, green porphyry, is composed of a very deep- 
green paste, enclosing light-green crystals tending to yellow, 
of which the finest example occurs in the great urn of the 
High Altar of St. Niccolo in Carcere. A variety of pea-green, 
with very delicate green crystals, is generally called Porfido 
Vitelli, for its discoverer, who found a mass in the excavations 
from which several interesting objects of art have been sculp- 
tured. A light-gray porphyry obtained from the modern 
quarries near Frejus, France, has been proved to be identical 
with that found in Roman remains. Stone-workers have 
given it the name of Granito a MorvigUone, or '' granite with 
measles." Large columns of this variety are seen in the 
Altar of St. Gregory, in St. Peter's Church. 

Lapis Memphites. — The stones called Lapis Memphites 
have been named by the ancients Ophites, " serpent stones," 
and Tephrites, "ash-colored stones;" by moderns they have 
been classed with serpentines, but Corsi says they are por- 
phyry ; the term Memphites suggests that Memphis, Egypt, 
was the place from which it was obtained. The colors are 



ANTIQUE PORPHYRIES. 329 

white, black, and 'gray, and on account of its hardness it was 
used for mortuary urns. Two beautiful vases in the Vatican 
Museum, and one of the columns in the Church of St. Pras- 
sede, which sustains the architrave to the door of the Santa 
Capella, were cut in this species. 

Lapis Lacedczmonius : Po'rfido detto Serpentino. — It would 
be difficult to class this stone scientifically, since it has been 
ranked with marbles, serpentines, and porphyries ; the pre- 
ponderance of evidence is perhaps for serpentines. Pliny 
speaks of the green Lacedaemonian stone as being more bril- 
liant in color than any other marble, a character which can 
hardly be ascribed to serpentines. Strabo says Laconia, 
Greece, where it was found, contains quarries of valuable 
marble, and that they have been opened in Mt. Taygetus ; 
and Pausanias mentions a stone found in Laconia used 
to decorate the temples of the gods. The serpentine of 
these mountains was disclosed by a natural phenomenon, as 
related by the ancient writers. A portion of Taygetus was 
shattered by an earthquake as had been predicted by Anaxi- 
mander of Miletus, who warned the Spartans of the catas- 
trophe ; by the falling of the mountain the city of Sparta was 
partially destroyed, but the disaster revealed a rich mine of 
valuable stone. 

The Lapis Lacedaemonius, named for Laced^mon, the chief 
city of Laconia, was not employed by the Romans for sculp- 
ture or for large architectural works, but for paving dwellings, 
temples, piazzas, and roads. Nibby states that the Grotto of 
Egeria w^as paved with serpentine, and that the piazzas or 
courts of Heliogabalus, on the Palatine, were paved with Lace- 
daemonian stone and porphyry. The practice was adopted by 
Alexander Severus, from whom it took the name of Opus 
Alexandrinum. It is said in our version of the Scriptures, 
that a court in the palace of Ahasuerus of Shushan, was 
paved with red, blue, white, and black marble ; in other ver- 
sions it has been rendered Parian marble and serpentine, 
called Smaraldine stone. 



330 



LIMESTONES AND MARBLES. 



After the decline of art, serpentine was employed in the 
temples as a decorative stone, and in the oldest churches it 
is found in pavements. An example occurs of its use for 
columns in the Church of St. John and St. Paul on Mt. Celio, 
a work of the fourth century, and another in the High Altar 
of St. Paul's, beyond the walls of Rome. 

The Lapis Lacedaemonius received the name of Sassus 
Spartanus, Spartan stone ; Taygeta, from the mountains; Te- 
neria, from the southern promontory of Laconia; Croceatus, 
from the Castle Croces, near which it was quarried ; and Sas- 
sus Smaraldinus, from its emerald green. There are many 
varieties, including different shades of green and other colors. 
The name poryhyry applies to the form and disposition of the 
crystals, and not to its chemical properties. 



n 



CHAPTER XXII. 

ANTIQUE STONES AND WORKS OF ART IN MODERN ROME. 

Antique marbles and other ornamental stones, seen at the 
present time in the museums, churches, and palaces of Italy, 
often in considerable masses, either as architectural decora- 
tions or sculptured ornaments and statuary, were obtained 
from the ruined structures of a former period and transferred 
entire, as in the case of columns and statues, or used for 
various modern works of art with which many of the collections 
are enriched. These relics of the past convey an idea of the 
magnificence of the ancient Roman villas, which, Strabo says, 
resembled in gorgeousness Persian palaces, and the richness 
and splendor of the public buildings of Roman cities under 
the emperors. 

The celebrity of the Vatican Museum is world-wide, and 
many of its masterpieces are known from observation, descrip- 
tion, or reproduction ; therefore it was not intended by the 
author to describe these celebrated sculptures as works of art, 
but only to mention, as far as is known, the character and 
name of the principal stones in which they were carved. 

It is generally understood that the Museum containing 
the largest and most valuable collection of statuary in the 
world, made at different times, and under the patronage 
of different popes, occupies a great number of rooms in the 
papal palace, whose numerous apartments, aside from the 
collections they hold, are exceedingly interesting for their 
magnificent architectural decorations. In the following de- 

331 



332 IMESTONES AND MARBLES. 

scriptions, made from personal observation, Professor Massi, 
who quotes from the antiquary Visconti, the first director and 
principal arranger of the Museum, and Professor Corsi, a 
Roman archaeologist, are cited as authority, though there are 
some discrepancies in their statements. 

The Braccio Nuovo, or " New Arm," in which are arranged 
some of the most celebrated statues and masterpieces of 
Greek art, is a splendid hall two hundred and sixty-one feet 
long and fifty-five broad, with a decorated vaulted ceiling and 
cupola supported by eight Cippolino columns, a rare and beau- 
tiful variety of light-purple, white, and yellowish veins or 
waves, with similar columns placed at both ends of the hall. 
The jambs about the doors are made of Sicilian jasper, or the 
marble of Taormina, a rich and showy stone of dark-red, 
orange, light-yellow, and light-green. In this room are col- 
umns ofi granite with black ground, enclosing reddish and 
greenish crystals, one of which has a broad elliptical band of 
reddish-brown ; a column of light-brown granite ; other col- 
umns of what is called Granito persichino, of light-purple, 
black, and whitish crystals ; red granites of different shades, 
some called oriental, others African; two columns of Giallo 
antico, a very beautiful variety of light-pink and yellow with 
dark reticulated veins ; and two columns of Alabastro bianco, 
white alabaster, with alternate opaque and translucent layers, 
similar to the Cotognino. Among other marbles for decora- 
tion occurs the rich Spanish brocotello of variegated colors of 
red, purple, orange, gray, and white. 

The sculptures of the Braccio Nuovo afford examples of many 
species of stones, including a variety of green basalt with 
minute particles like dust, and a black Egyptian basalt ; oriental 
alabasters, resembling Pomato and Giaccione, the latter trans- 
lucent, of a greenish tint, looking like petrified water; white 
marbles of various kinds, as Parian, Pentelic, Grechetto, Tar- 
sio, Lesbio, Carrara, and many others. 

The statue of Commodus is of Pentelic, while that of the great 
tragic poet Euripides is Tarsio, like the Venus of the Capitol, 



ANTIQUE STONES, ETC., IN MODERN ROME. 333 

with a brilliancy and yellowish color finely representing flesh 
tints. A statue in the room of the large Pavonazzetto vase is 
cut in a marble similar to that of the Euripides. The figure 
of Julia is claimed by Massi to be of Carrara, but Corsi says 
it is Lesbian, a Greek marble. The stone has a remarkable 
translucent appearance, is of a yellowish tint, with the purple 
veins and brilliant scales of Tarsio. The Parian of the mag- 
nificent statue of Minerva Medica is diaphanous and of a 
yellowish hue resembling a very fine alabaster; while a Mer- 
cury larger than life is in Pentelic. 

The Chiaramonti Corridor is a long gallery containing more 
than seven hundred marble sculptures, arranged on both sides, 
and embracing a great variety of subjects. This hall is separ- 
ated from the Corridor of Inscriptions by an iron grating be- 
tween columns of Lumachella bigia, or gray shell marble, 
resting on bases of Sassio or Pietra Santa marble. The col- 
umns are of a deep-purple, with grayish or white masses 
crossed by fine lines, while the bases consist of a large, modern 
breccia of dark and light-red and white, resembling the 
antique Porta Santa, and is obtained from Sasso, in the western 
part of Tuscany, or from Pietra Santa, in Liguria, perhaps 
from both places. 

The larger number of sculptures in this gallery are of 
white marble, the exceptional colored stones being an altar in 
Pavonazzetto or Phrygian ; a female figure in Pietra di Monti, 
a hard, light-colored stone; a plinth of Alabaster of Tivoli, 
probably modern, of white, yellow, and brown, with distinct 
crystalline structure; bust in Nero antico; Jupiter Serapis 
in Marmo bigio; Fallen Gladiator on a plinth of Alabaster 
of Tivoli; Tiger in black Egyptian granite, displaying large 
purplish-white and black crystals ; Captive King in Phrygian ; 
the tunic of a torso in Alabaster fiorito, of yellow, red, purple, 
and white bands; a base for a figure, consisting of a beau- 
tiful alabaster with yellow and brown curved lines ; a head of 
Bacchus in a variety of Giallo antico, called Carnagione, flesh- 
color ; and a faun in green basalt. 



334 LIMESTONES AND MARBLES. 

The white marble of the Young Augustus has a peculiar 
fineness, compactness, and whiteness, nothing like the warm, 
living tints or brilliancy of Parian. The marble of two busts 
near the Augustus resemble it, but differ in translucency and 
apparently in texture. The heads of Ariadne and Venus, 
called Parian by Massi, are bluish-white, with large, brilliant 
crystals, resembling that of Ganymede, in the Cabinet of 
Masks. There is in this corridor an Isis and a Neptune, said 
to be Pentelic ; a sarcophagus, not a pure white, in Luni ; a 
Silenus in what is catalogued as Salino marble, from a villa 
near Lake Albano, a white, compact stone ; and a Hercules 
in Porinum, a Greek marble. 

From the Vestibule of the Belvidere a fine view of the city 
is afforded, a prospect which suggested the name, but its 
renown is derived from the famous Torso Belvidere, sculp- 
tured, it is supposed, by the Athenian artist Apollonius, and 
regarded by art critics as representing Hercules deified. This 
celebrated statue is considered by Massi to be in Pentelic 
marble, but Corsi, who seems to be the better authority in 
such questions, says it is Grechetto duro, or the antique 
Porinum, found at Olympia, Greece ; it has fine grain and 
brilliant scales, and differs from other examples of Pentelic. 
The centre of the Round Vestibule is occupied by a vase of 
Pavonazzetto marble which measures twenty-five palms in cir- 
cumference. The Meleager is said to be sculptured in Imezio 
or Greek Hymettus marble, with the blue veins of other 
specimens of this variety. 

The Court of the Belvedere is surrounded by a portico sup- 
ported by sixteen columns of Corallina breccia and gray and 
white marbles, with capitals of Verde serpentino, Giallo 
antico, and Porfido rosso, or red porphyry ; the cabinets at 
the four corners contain, respectively, the Apollo Belvedere, 
the Mercury, the Laocoon, and the Perseus and the two Box- 
ers by Canova. One of the columns consists of very rare 
pink, brown, and gray granite, called Morvigfione, and among 
the interesting specimens of antique art occupying the portico 



ANTIQUE STONES, ETC., IN MODERN ROME. 335 

are a bath of black Egyptian basalt ; a basin of beautiful Egyp- 
tian granite of fine grain, resembling basalt ; a column of rare 
gray and pink African breccia ; a cornice in Rosso antico ; 
a large bath of a rare variety of Porta Santa of pale colors, 
pinkish-brown, white, and some others ; an altar of Pentehc ; 
and two columns of rare and beautiful porphyry. The porphyry 
columns are remarkable ; the ground color of one of them is 
deep purple with large, greenish-yellow spots, giving it the 
appearance of a breccia, the whole overspread with greenish 
and pinkish-white particles. The ground of the other is 
light-gray, enclosing dark-gray and white spots. 

The Mercury of the Belvedere, called by some critics the 
most nearly faultless example of ancient sculpture, is in 
Parian, which has the yellowish tint and brilliancy of this 
marble seen in other examples, while Pentelic was employed 
for the group of the Laocoon, and Parian for the beautiful 
statue of Isis ; the large bath, regardied as Egyptian por- 
phyry, resembles granite. The celebrated Apollo Belvedere 
is said to be sculptured in Parian by some critics, and in 
Carrara by others ; but if the statue was brought from 
Greece, as is generally conceded, it was undoubtedly made of 
Greek marble ; the stone has a slightly bluish tint, but is lus- 
trous. The Perseus and the Boxers, being modern works, 
were of course sculptured in marble used by modern artists, 
undoubtedly the Carrara. Among other articles of this court 
are a bath of dark-green basalt of fine texture, sprinkled with 
very small specks like dust, and large blocks of red and white 
alabaster, called Pecorella. 

The Hall of the Animals, appropriated to sculptures repre- 
senting the lower orders of creation, has been very properly 
called a "marble menagerie." It contains a great variety of 
subjects and of material used in sculpture, and from the 
numerous specimens, illustrating the use of the different 
ornamental stones, the following have been selected : — 

A Griffon in Alabastro fiorito, "flowered alabaster," pre- 
senting different arrangements of the various colors ; a Stork 



33^ LIMESTONES AND MARBLES. 

in Rosso antico ; a Dog in Pavonazzetto ; a small group in a 
marble of different shades of brown ; a Stag in two species 
of alabaster, the body of Alabastro a rosa, of deep-red, orange, 
yellow, purple, and white in forms simulating a full-blown 
rose, and the horns of a yellow and white alabaster called 
Cotognino ; a small Lion in a very rare orange and brown 
marble called Pietra Carnagione, covered with minute, bluish 
particles resembling dust, with the tongue and teeth in their 
natural colors, and the base on which the figure rests of a beau- 
tiful granite, consisting of small crystals of light and dark 
green and black ;^and a Lobster in a green stone called in 
the catalogue Verde di Carrara, but not recognized as an 
antique under that name. The species of green stones are 
quite numerous, including marbles, serpentines, granites, 
porphyries, and basalts, bearing some resemblance to one 
another. In the Lobster the ground color is dark green, 
covered by thin yellowish-green clouds, while a vase in another 
room, called Verde di Carrara, displays yellowish-green spots, 
with fine white lines on a dark-green base. 

Other examples in colored stones are a Wolf in Phrygian 
or Pavonazetto marble ; a Sphinx in Giallo antico ; a Tiger of 
pink and white Egyptian granite ; a Lion said to be Giallo 
antico; a breccia of large fragments of buff, yellow and yel- 
lowish-white, resembling the columns in the Hall of the 
Statues; a Panther or Leopard in Alabastro fiorito, which 
differs from that of the Griffon, the stripes being in different 
shades of yellowish-brown, while the black and yellow spots, 
in imitation of the natural colors of the animal, were un- 
doubtedly the work of art. 

In this " menagerie " are seen a Tiger sculptured in a 
beautiful variety of Egyptian granite, composed of crystals 
arranged in delicate clouds of light-purple or slate, covering 
a dark ground ; a Lion in Bigio venato antico marble, present- 
ing a dark-gray foundation crossed with light-gray veins ; a 
small Lion in Bigio, a very peculiar marble of dark -gray base 
sprinkled with fine particles of bluish-white like dust, — the 



I 



ANTIQUE STONES, ETC., IN MODERN ROME. 33/ 

deception is perfect ; a Cow in Pavonazzetto ; the pedestal of 
a vase in Alabastro fiorito, similar to that of the Griffon ; a 
Horse in a marble resembling the Bianco e Nero d'Egitto, 
called by Massi, erroneously there is little doubt, Lydian stone. 
In this hall are placed two large tables of Verde antico, named 
Morato, the most valuable variety, composed of large frag- 
ments of black, dark-green, and white, overspread, as with a 
veil, by light green clouds, the white portions being encircled 
by green lines or narrow bands. 

A Dolphin affords a specimen of delicate yellow and brown 
alabaster, it may be Sardonico ; a Cow of dark-brown marble, 
similar to that of the Lion, but covered by dust particles of a 
different color, and supposed to be a copy of one in bronze 
by Myron; a Crawfish, of rare green porphyry, with dark- 
green base and yellowish-green crystals, inclined to a circular 
form ; a Tripod of Serpentino Tiberiano, according to Corsi, 
but catalogued as Polsevera Green, displaying a ground of 
dark-green, reticulated by light-green, white, and pinkish 
veins, waves, and circles. A red breccia is quite generally 
used for the bases and pedestals of figures. 

Gallery of Statues. — The fine columns supporting this Gal- 
lery are of Giallo antico, similar to that of the Lion in the 
Hall of the Animals, while the pilasters are of Sette Basi, 
both marbles affording a very rich and appropriate decoration 
for a room devoted to sculptures in white marble". 

The large Bath, made of the elegant yellow and white 
Alabastro cotognino, occupies the centre of the room. The 
statue called the Genius of the Vatican, or the Vatican 
Cupid, supposed to be the work of Praxiteles, is said to be 
Parian, but its identity with that marble is not assured ; it re- 
sembles the Triton and a Bacchus in the same room. The 
Penelope, from its style, supposed to belong to the Greek 
school before Phidias, is sculptured in a marble like the Pen- 
telic, which was not used for art until about his time. The 
Amazon in Grechetto duro, ancient Porinum, is of fine grain, 
bluish tint and purple veins ; the sitting statues of Posidippus 



338 LIMESTONES AND MARBLES. 

and Menander are executed in the variety of Pentelic, veined 
with blue and purple. A green, translucent variety of the 
Alabastro cotognino, forms the drapery and armor of the bust 
of the Emperor Otho, while Vespasian is invested with a 
chlamys or mantle of Verde antico and armor of Porta Santa. 

A fluted column supporting a mask of Rosso antico, desig- 
nated in the catalogue as Nero antico Africano, is simply 
Nero antico, a Greek marble, and a rich variety of Alabastro 
fiorito is seen in a bust with the chlamys. The vase called 
Breccia Africano, on a base of Porta Santa, is called by Corsi 
Traccagnina, but differs entirely from other specimens of this 
breccia, displaying a black ground covered with reddish-gray 
and white fragments in the form of small veins and light 
clouds, sometimes blended and sometimes clear and distinct. 
A modern alabaster, called Civita Vecchia, of reddish-brown, 
combined with various other colors, forms a vase, resting on a 
column of Alabastro giaccione, of yellow and white. 

A bust of Annius Verus Caesar is made of fine, white 
Palombino, ancient Coraliticum; a bust of Julia, of Porta 
Santa; a cuirasse, of the Alabaster of Orte, said to be the 
rarest kind, obtained from the quarries, now extinct, at Orte, 
a small town on the route from Florence to Rome. This ex- 
ceedingly beautiful alabaster might be easily mistaken for a 
deep, rich amber, which it strikingly resembles in color; 
there are two small columns of this stone in the Confessio of 
St. Peter's, and a vase in the Museum. The reclining statue 
of Ariadne, so called, is said to be in Parian, and it seems to 
answer to the descriptions of that stone ; while the marble of 
the supposed statue of Bacchus resembles Grechetto or 
Porinum. A vase of alabaster called Agatino, supported by 
a column of Verde antico, with orange and yellow, is identical, 
probably, with the antique Sardonico. 

The Cabinet of Masks is decorated with eight splendid 
columns and pilasters of a white and yellowish-brown alabas- 
ter, called, by Corsi, Alabastro a giaccione, but in the catalogue 
it is written Alabaster Monte Circeo. In this cabinet are 



ANTIQUE STONES, ETC., IN MODERN ROME. 339 

seen several statues ; a Bacchante in Pentelic marble ; Diana 
Lucifera in a white, compact marble called by Massi Cipollo, 
which is the Imezio or Hymettus, a variety with large crystals 
of rather obscure white and purple veins or bands, employed 
generally for columns, but different from that of another Diana 
in the same apartment Th'e Ganymede resembles examples 
in the Hall of the Statues, said to be Parian, while the Adonis, 
claimed to be of the best kind of Greek marble, which is 
Parian, is carved in a clear, white marble of fine texture. A 
Faun, basin, and seat of Rosso antico are found here. 

The Hall of the Muses is supported by sixteen columns 
of Carrara, and a large part of the statues and busts in 
this hall, found near Tivoli, are sculptured in white statuary 
marble, but only one is referred to any particular species, 
the Euterpe, in Pentelic. Of the magnificent works in the 
Rotunda in white marble, the Ceres and the Hadrian are said 
to be in Pentelic; the immense basin, sixty palms in cir- 
cumference, found in the Baths of Titus, is sculptured in red 
porphyry. 

At one entrance to the Hall of the Greek Cross are seen 
two statues in Egyptian red granite, and on either side of the 
room stands two large Sarcophagi of red porphyry, supposed 
to be those of Constantia and Helena, the daughter and the 
mother of Constantine the Great. In this room is the Venus 
of Cnidos, considered the best copy of the original of Prax- 
iteles, but it is not certain what kind of marble was used for 
the statue. 

The Sala Regia, or Royal Staircase, consists of four flights, 
adorned with columns of marble, porphyry, and granite, found 
in the ruins of Pr^neste or Palestrina, with balustrades of 
bronze, entablatures, etc. Corsi makes the following enumer- 
ation of the columns : six of Granito persichino ; two of 
Granito del Foro ; eight of Granito bigio ; four of Granito 
rosso ; two of Porfido nero ; four of Breccia corallina. There 
are eight of the latter, as every one can see ; but four of 
these, which Massi classes as Breccia di Cori, Corsi has 



340 LIMESTONES AND MARBLES. 

omitted from his list. The name Cori suggests the ruins 
of ancient Cora, a town in the Volsian Mountains, existing 
several centuries before the Christian era, as the place 
where the marble or the columns were found ; the ruins 
of this town include the remains of walls and temples. 
The Breccia corallina composing these columns has large 
fragments of red, pink, white, and yellow ; and the four called 
Breccia di Cori are similar, but with pieces more distinct, and 
are probably varieties of the same species. The two rare 
columns of black porphyry, Porfido nero, presenting a black 
ground with small yellowish or greenish-white crystals, were 
found near the Porta San Paolo, and are considered the only 
examples of the kind. 

The granite columns are of different varieties : a red, or 
reddish-brown and black ; one with light purple, enclosing 
black, white, and pinkish crystals, called Persichino ; the 
light-colored granite named the Granite of the Forum, and a 
gray granite with light brown crystals. A vase called Plas- 
matico granito, with a ground of a rich, clear green, enclosing 
bluish-green and a gray feldspar, stands near a balcony of the 
staircase. The name Plasma has been given to a vase in the 
Gallery of Vases as synonymous with Serpentine of Genoa ; 
the two vases differ in appearance, but the difference may be 
only of variety. 

The eight fluted columns supporting the cupola of the Hall 
of the Biga cannot be of Carystium or Cippolino, as stated by 
Massi ; they are white, with delicate purple veins, and re- 
semble the columns in the Rotunda, which he calls Carrara. 
In this room is placed the statue of a Roman in Pentehc 
marble, and' a fine statue of Agollo in Grechetto or Porinum. 
The centre of the hall is occupied by the Biga, a Roman 
chariot in white antique marble, though large portions of the 
group are restorations, consequently in modern stone. 

The Gallery of Vases and Candelabra contains the largest 
collection of rare and beautiful colored stones found in 
the Museum. The gallery is divided into six compartments 



ANTIQUE STONES, ETC., IN MODERN ROME. 34I 

by columns of elegant gray marble ; in the first compart- 
ment are placed pillars of alabaster called Civita Vecchia, of 
red, brown, and white waves. 

As the specimens in this apartment are so numerous, and 
many of them of small size, they will be designated by num- 
bers corresponding to the catalogue. No. i. Affords an ex- 
ample of Egyptian Green breccia of black, green, yellow, and 
gray fragments crossed with lines of other colors, in a cement 
of very dark green or black dotted with yellow, seen in the 
handles of a vase standing on a column of red porphyry. No. 
14. A vase of porphyry with purple-red crystals in a black 
and white ground. Nos. 17 and 18. Two vases of remarkable 
oriental granite of black ground and light-bluish green spots, 
producing the effect of dark-green with light-green crystals. 
No. 21. Cinerary vase in Alabastro a rosa, on a base of Verde 
antico. No. 40. A torso in Alabastro di Montalto, of a yellow- 
ish color with reddish veins. Montalto is an eminence on the 
southern slope of the Alps in the northwestern part of Italy, 
crowned with the ruins of a castle. No. 41. A foot and 
buskin in Alabastro fiorito dorato, of deep orange and red, 
with light colors and dark spots. Nos. 46 and 56. Two vases of 
Serpentino di Genova, or Verde plasma, sometimes called 
Polsevera green, but classed by Corsi with granite, resting 
on columns of a granite called Morviglione, displaying light 
crystals in a reddish-brown foundation. No. 48. Cinerary 
vase of Egyptian granite of very small black and white 
crystals, on a block of deep-green granite flowered with light- 
green spots, both supported by a column of Giallo antico. 
No. 50. Vase of gray serpentine porphyry, said to be rare. 
No. 52. Faun in green basalt. No. 69. Vase of Lisimico 
jasper, a very rare and beautiful stone, displaying a black 
ground covered with large spots of deep-orange and light- 
yellow, dotted by small red particles, seen under transparent 
livid-white clouds crossed by fine lines. It would be interest- 
ing to know from what place this remarkable species was 
obtained. Pliny speaks of the Lysimachos, an ornamental 



342 LIMESTONES AND MARBLES. 

stone resembling Rhodian marble, with golden veins; it is 
possible it came from Lysimachia, a town in Thrace, founded 
by Lysimachus, or from Etolia, near a lake of the same name, 
and identical with that in the Museum. The column on 
which this elegant vase stands is called Breccia di Aleppo by 
Corsi, and Traccagnina by Massi. No. 70. Vase of serpentine 
porphyry with black ground and bluish-green crystals over- 
spread with light-yellow waves and spots of reddish tints. 
No. 82. Two vases of Serpentino granito, deep and light-green 
and white crossed by fine reticulated lines, called also Polse- 
vera green. No. Sy. A vase said to be in Phrygian or Pavon- 
azzetto marble of very delicate purple and white, differing 
from most other examples of the kind. No. 92. Vase in 
Serpentino di Genova, or, as it is sometimes called, green 
plasma granite, of green, purple, and white crystals embedded 
in a green base crossed by fine, straight lines, giving it the 
appearance of having been scratched. No. 96. Vase of Theban 
granite, a rare species of reddish purple overspread by light- 
green, brick-red, and white clouds. No. 107. Cinerary vase 
in Pietra di Monte, a compact white stone like travertine. 
No. 112. Vase of Polsevera of the same species as No. 82. 
The ground is coffee-colored, well-marked by light-yellow, 
green, and white veins, and large purple spots, with a clear 
white border; also a cup of Tigrato marble, presenting a 
speckled appearance, quite peculiar and rare, produced by a 
mingling of white, brown, yellow, and orange colors, in clusters 
resembling smsLll flowers. No. 120. Tripod in Alabastro 
sadonico, of rich and beautiful colors, red and yellow pre- 
dominating, arranged in layers similar to those of the Sardonyx. 
No. 123. Vase of Porfido nero serpentino, similar to No. 70, 
with dark-green and bluish or greenish-white crystals placed 
on a column of Bigio morato marble. No. 133. Column of Ala- 
bastro fiorito, found in the Roman Forum, of very rich colors of 
deep orange, red, yellow, and white, with a base of a handsome 
yellow, brown, and white breccia. On the top of the column 
stands a vase of orange and white alabaster called Cotognino. 



Plate XXIV. 




Alabastko a Tartaruga. 




Brck:catellone. 



AIIM8TBOS8 k Co. LiTB BoiTON. 



■if' '^ 

I 



ANTIQUE STONES, ETC., IN MODERN ROME. 343 

The columns supporting the Gallery of Vases are made of 
very light-gray marble, covered with graceful -waves of white 
light-purple, and yellow tints, the stone bearing some resem- 
blance to jasper. No. 156. Vase in Verde di Polsevera, simi- 
lar to No. S2, with some variations. No. 1 59, Vase of the same 
stone, called by various nam-es, standing on a block of lustrous 
yellow and white alabaster, said to be Giaccione, but unlike other 
specimens of that variety. No. 173. Cinerary urn on a column 
of Pavonazzetto ; an urn of Palombino of chalky whiteness, 
resembling porcelain ; a vase said to be Rosso Levantino, but 
this must be a mistake, as it resembles No. 112; it is probably 
Polsevera. No. 185. A vase called Verde di Carrara, of dark 
green foundation, covered with yellowish-green spots and fine 
white lines enclosing crystals, resembling feldspar, which, in 
their interesting play of colors, produce the effect of labra- 
dorite. No. 188. Vase of the exquisite, gem-like alabaster of 
Orte supported by a column of Cippolino marble. No. 189. 
A column of Giallo antico, of the variety called Carnagione, 
supporting a vase of rare jasper with a red ground similar to* 
Rosso antico, covered by reticulated blue, purple, and white 
veins. No. 192. Vase called by Massi Nero antico Africano, 
which is probably Nero e Bianco d'Egitto, since it resembles 
specimens of that marble in the Museum of the Capitol. 
This vase has a black ground with obscure-white clouds, and 
clear-white veins. No. 220. Vase of exceedingly rich Pol- 
severa green standing atop a Cippolino column. 

Fifth Division of the Gallery: No. 221. A cup of Rosso 
antico in a base of red breccia. No. 227. Vase of Alabastro a 
rosa, which does not mean rose-colored alabaster, as expressed 
in the catalogue, but a kind in which the various colors 
assume a figure resembling a rose. Nos. 235 and 236. Two 
splendid vases cut in a stone called by Massi Garnetiferous ser- 
pentine, and by Corsi granite, named Pietra Braschi, in honor 
of Pius VI. The ground of dark-gray, enclosing purple-red 
garnets, is scattered over with thin, light-yellow clouds blended 
with green, exhibiting something of the chatoyant nature of 



344 LIMESTONES AND MARBLES. 

labradorite. This extraordinary granite was found at Civita 
Castalana, between Rome and Florence, near the place which 
yielded the rare alabaster of Orte. No. 239. Cup said to be 
of white marble, is of green serpentine porphyry on a base 
of Sicilian jasper or Taormina marble. No. 247. Cup of red 
granite of the smallest grain, called red oriental Granitello ; 
the minute crystals are of light-red and dark colors. No. 249. 
Cup of Porfido nero, a rare species of porphyry. No. 268. 
Vase of Egyptian gray granite with very fine crystals. 

In the Etruscan Room are some sculptures in Nemphro, or 
volcanic tufa. What is called a crater in sculpture is a vase 
for mixing wine and water, of which there are several in the 
Museum. 

Egyptian Room. — This collection was partly gathered from 
Egypt and partly from the museums of Rome. Those works 
brought from Egypt were, of course, sculptured in the stones 
of that country. One statue, which strikingly resembles 
Polsevera green, was probably a copy ; another, carved in a 
native stone, the character of which is not perfectly clear, dis- 
plays a ground of dark and light purple with white and yellow 
spots; it may be a breccia marble or a granite; there is no 
other example of it in the Museum, but a specimen resembling 
this variety is seen with darker purple, finer crystals, and 
white spots like flakes of snow. There is an idol sculptured 
in a peculiar marble covered with small, brown specks, called 
Palombino, which may have been a copy, as that marble was 
not found in Africa ; and an idol in Verde Rannochio ondato, 
or Serpentino Augusteo, of delicate purple, light yellowish- 
green, and grayish-white. 

The basalts used for Egyptian coffins were of different 
kinds; one variety might be taken for bronze, it so. closely 
resembles it, while another is of a coffee-color. The Egyp- 
tian alabasters are mostly white or whitish, and of no special 
beauty, but the granites are of many species, including red, 
black, gray, and purple, and some with crystals so large as to 
give the stone a brecciated appearance. A marble called 



ANTIQUE STONES, ETC., IN MODERN ROME. 345 

Seme Santo pallido is a cream-colored stone with small parti- 
cles of other colors scattered in the cement like seeds. Pur- 
ple and white marbles, a Bigio morato, very peculiar and 
beautiful, and a black breccia marble with very large yellow- 
ish-white fragments, are all found in this department. A 
summary of the principal works of art in the Egyptian Room 
are thus given by Corsi : Fifteen statues in black granite; 
three statues in red granite; an urn in green basalt from 
Memphis ; an urn in black basalt ; two lions in black granite ; 
an idol in gray breccia a Seme Santo ; an idol in Palombino ; 
an idol in green and white granite ; an idol in Serpentine 
Augusteo ; a vase in Alabastro giaccione ; two mummy-cases 
in Lumachella bianca ; a statue of the Nile in gray marble ; a 
statue in coffee-colored basalt. 

In the Museo Kircheriano, in the Collegio Romano, is a 
small Egyptian idol in Serpentino Tiberiano, or Verde Rano- 
chio fiorito, of deeper green than the Augusteo ; another idol 
of a dark green with light yellow veins, and a column of 
gray marble. 

This Museum, established in the first part of the seven- 
teenth century, by Kircher, contains fewer sculptures in 
marble, more especially in colored antiques, than are found in 
many other collections. 

The Capitoline Museum, begun by Innocent X. about the 
middle of the seventeenth century, and completed by Pius VI. 
in the last part of the eighteenth, has a much less extensive 
collection than that of the Vatican, but it contains several mas- 
terpieces of statuary. The Room of the Dying Gaul, usually 
styled the Dying Gladiator, contains two immortal works — 
the statue of the wounded Gaul, a Greek sculpture in a marble 
resembling Parian, and a copy of the famous Satyr of Praxi- 
teles, considered the best extant. In this room is an inter- 
esting column of Breccia traccagnina, composed of a cement 
of reddish-yellow, enclosing fragments of various colors and 
sizes, none of which are entirely of one color but variegated, 
displaying a mixture of black, red, brown, gray, and yellow, 



34^ LIMESTONES AND MARBLES. 

with a gradual blending of tints, crossed by fine lines, or thin 

clouds. 

In this Museum is seen a beautiful specimen of Nero e 
Bianco d' Egitto, or Egyptian gray marble, with light purplish- 
white veins and clouds, sometimes tending to yellow, on a 
black ground, similar to some of this species in the Vatican 
Museum. There are two half columns of Sette Basi of a 
lighter color than that seen in the Vatican, consisting of yel- 
lowish-white, reddish-purple, and violet, with small fragments 
arranged near together. The Rosso antico of the Faun of 
the Capitol, found at Hadrian's Villa, is veined with black and 
white; the two Centaurs from the same place, said to be 
sculptured in Bigio morato, have also been classed under the 
Black and White marble of Egypt, and the Jupiter and 
./Esculapius, called Nero antico, are of the same marble as 
the Centaurs. 

The varieties of alabasters include a specimen of the Tarta- 
ruga, displaying wavy bands of shades of yellow, on a deep- 
red ground; the Fiorito, of light-yellow, orange, and red; a 
bust in Palombara, striped with delicate yellow, orange, purple, 
and white ; specimens of Giaccione, of Banded, and Onyx ala- 
basters ; a column of Pecorella ; another of Alabastro bianco, 
and two others of different kinds. 

Further illustrations of colored marbles are comprised in a 
deep-red and obscure white Bigia lumachella ; a column of 
gray marble ; half columns of Granito persichino ; a grayish- 
white and orange marble ; rare Verde antico containing red ; 
a rare variety of Lumachella d'Egitto seen in the crown of 
Juno ; and Cippolino with green base covered with purple and 
white clouds or waves. The marble of the Venus of the Cap- 
itol, said to be Lesbian or Grecco giallognolo, is of a yellow- 
ish tint and large brilliant scales. 

The numerous sculptures of the Capitol Museum are, to a 
great extent, in white statuary marble, probably some of it 
native to Italy. 



CHAPTER XXTII. 

ANTIQUE STONES USED TO DECORATE ROMAN CHURCHES. 

It is in these structures the antique stones can best be 
studied, since they are often seen in large masses, as in col- 
umns, or covering extensive areas, as on walls, where the 
colors and cloudings are displayed to advantage. 

Church of S. Maria Sopra Minerva. — This edifice, 
erected on the ruins of the Temple of Minerva in 1285, the 
only Gothic church in Rome, contains a great variety of 
antique marbles, some of the most notable being: Two col- 
umns of Giallo brecciato — yellow breccia — with bases of 
Lumachella gialla; two columns of Breccia corallina; a col- 
umn of rare Breccia dorata — golden breccia ; two columns of 
Fior di Persico ; two columns of Nero e Bianco ; two columns 
of Occhio di Pavone ; a column of Breccia rossa ; columns of 
a rare variety of Porta Santa ; specimens of Africano, Verde 
antico, and other species. 

Church of the Gesu. — This is the principal church of the 
Jesuits, and one of the most georgeously decorated in Rome. 
Though built in the latter part of the sixteenth century, 
some of its decorations are recent; the walls having been 
covered with marble by Prince Torlonia in i860. Among 
antiques are Verde antico, Africano, Breccia corallina, Giallo 
antico, and Porta Santa, with a great variety of beautiful 
alabasters. There are two large columns near the entrance 
resembling Cippolino, and two columns in the second altar, of 
an elegant red and gray breccia. This church contains a 

347 



34^ LIMESTONES AND MARBLES. 

globe of lapis lazuli made of a single piece, said to be the 
largest mass of the kind known. 

Church of S. Maria in Ara Ccell — A very old build- 
ing, with numerous antique columns in Cippolino, Pavonazzetto, 
Tarsio, Breccia dorata, Breccia corallina, Giallo antico, Breccia 
traccagnina. Porta Santa, Broccatellone, Red granite, Green 
granite, Granite of the Forum, Red porphyry. Green porphyry, 
and some other species including Gialla e Nera, Sette Basi, 
Seme Santo, and a marble resembling Fior di Persico, all 
used for decoration in some form. 

S. Andrea della Valle. — A church with some precious 
antiques, including Gialla e Nera, seen in a pilaster, Breccia 
pavonazza. Breccia of Hadrian's Villa, a very rare marble, 
and Giallo tigrato. The balustrades of the High Altar are of 
Lumachella d' Astracane ; while four columns in the Barberini 
Chapel resemble Giallo antico ; and other columns are of 
rare Verde antico. Porta Santa, Brocatello, Bianco e Nero, 
Sicilian jasper, and rich alabasters have been effectively used 
for embellishment. 

The most interesting examples of antique marbles in SS. 
Trinita di Monti are seen in the beautiful columns of Porta 
Santa, displaying a variety with rich and vivid colors. 

S. Maria Liberatrice. — This church occupies the site 
of the Temple of Vesta, near the Palatine Hill, and contains 
columns of Breccia corallina and Breccia traccagnina ; while 
two columns of purple, with yellowish spots, resemble the small 
columns and base of the High Altar in S. Maria in Ara Coeli. 

S. Maria in Trastevere. — One of the most ancient 
churches in Rome, founded, it is said, in the beginning of the 
third century, in the reign of Alexander Severus, but restored 
several times since it was first built. It is a basilica, richly 
ornamented with mosaics and marbles, both on the exterior 
and in the interior. Inside are placed twenty-eight large 
columns of antique red and gray granite, some with Ionic, 
others with Corinithan capitals and bases, besides four large 
Corinthian pilasters, encased in Cippolino marble, two columns 



ANTIQUE STONES IN ROMAN CHURCHES. 349 

of Broccatellone, two of Pentelic marble, a fluted column of 
Hymettus, two of red and black granite, several columns of 
Africano, and several of beautiful and variegated alabasters 
and red porphyry. The High Altar is supported by four col- 
umns of the latter, and enriched by four others of a rare and 
elegant variety of Nero e Bianco, gorgeous alabasters, gems, 
lapis lazuli, and other ornaments. The chapels display a 
great number of antiques, while the Tribune is ornamented 
with mosaics of different periods, the oldest dating from the 
twelfth century. The walls are covered with paintings on gold, 
and the centre of the ceiling is occupied by Domenichino's 
Madonna on copper. The church, according to tradition, was 
the house of St. Cecilia, who suffered martyrdom during one 
of the persecutions of the Christians, and contains the re- 
clining statue of the saint sculptured by Maderno, near the 
close of the sixteenth century, after the opening of the sar- 
cophagus, where the remains were found in a state of pres- 
preservation. The walls of the porticoes are covered with 
numerous inscriptions. 

S. Maria Maggiore. — Of the great number of churches 
dedicated to Mary this one is regarded the largest and one of 
the oldest in Rome, if not i^i Christendom. The fagade con- 
sists of a porch resting on four red and four antique gray 
granite columns ; the architrave of the nave is supported by 
forty-two Ionic columns, thirty-three of these being in Hymet- 
tus marble taken from the ancient Temple of Juno Lucina ; and 
the remainder are of gray granite. Columns of Nero e Bianco 
display white waving lines encircling the shaft, producing an 
effect altogether unique. Numerous species of alabasters, 
marbles, and gems seen in other churches, some of them rare 
and peculiar, are profusely used in this church. The High 
Altar consists of an ancient porphyry sarcophagus, in front 
of which is the richly decorated Confessio, enclosed by balus- 
trades of Bigia lumachella, while ten porphyry columns deco- 
rate the Capella del Presepe or the Chapel with the boards 
taken from the manger of the infant Redeemer. 



350 LIMESTONES AND MARBLES. 

S. Prassede. — This church, first erected at the beginning 
of the ninth century, contains the Chapel of the Column, 
where may be seen a small column claimed to be the identical 
one at which Christ was scourged. Two rare and beautiful 
columns, one of black and white granite, and the other of ser- 
pentine porphyry, stand at the entrance to this chapel, while 
the interior is covered with mosaic with gold ground. The 
nave is supported by twenty-eight columns of gray granite, 
seventeen of them being enclosed, forming pilasters. 

The High Altar. is furnished with columns of red porphyry 
and white Pentelic marble carved in leaf ornaments, and 
ascended by steps of Rosso antico. The fine columns of 
Giallo e Nero are black, with yellow and white spots, and 
the two of Broccatellone are light-yellow and light-purple. 

San Giovanni in Laterano. — St. John Lateran dates 
from the time of Constantine the Great, and has passed 
through many vicissitudes, having once been destroyed by an 
earthquake and twice by fire, but has since been rebuilt, 
altered, and modernized. The nave is sustained by twelve 
pillars, enclosing, in part, twenty-four columns of Verde antico, 
and forming niches for the white marble statutes of the 
Apostles. The most remarkable chapels are those of the 
Torlonia and the Corsini families, both literally covered with 
rich ornamental stones, including many varieties of antiques. 
The Corsini Chapel is conspicuous for its beautiful Fior di 
Persico and its elegant alabasters. Magnificent columns of 
Giallo antico, two of them taken from Trajan's Forum, are 
placed in the right transept ; those of Sicilian jasper occur in 
the Sacristy, while the Choir is embellished by a large number 
in granite, Pavonazzetto, Cippolino, Bigio, and Hymettus 
marbles. 

Eight large porphyry columns in the Baptistery support 
an antique marble architrave, said to be the gift of Con- 
stantine the Great ; and two of the splendid Breccia gialla 
dorata ornament the Oratorio. Jerusalem marbles, including 
columns from the Temple of Solomon, may be seen in the 
Cloisters. 



ANTIQUE STONES IN ROMAN CHURCHES. 35 1 

S. Clemente. — Recent excavations made below the present 
edifice, built in 1108, have laid bare three different layers of 
masonry belonging to different periods, — the early Christian, 
the Imperial, and beneath these, the Republican ; the early 
Christian forms the crypt of the present church, called the 
lower church. The nave of the upper church contains six- 
teen antique columns, of which five are in Hymettus marble, 
six of CippoUno, one of them resembling those of the Braccio 
Nuovo, the others green and white, and five granite columns. 
Corsi calls the purple marble, covered with yellowish, reddish, 
and grayish fragments, seen in two columns of this church, 
the rare Breccia pavonazza ; the one he refers to as Lesbian 
may be the small spiral column near the High Altar. 

Eight columns of Cotinello, and four of Verde antico, 
taken from the Arch of M. Aurelius, decorate the Church 
of S. Agnese. The four columns of the High Altar of 
the Church of S. Pantaleo, said to be Porta Santa, are differ- 
ent from other varieties of that marble, and bear some like- 
ness to Sicilian jasper; there are two like them found in 
the Church SS. Domenico e Sisto. A specimen of the rare 
and elegant marble called Breccia della Villa Adriana, found 
at Hadrian's Villa, is encrusted in the walls of this church, 
and among the antiques ornamenting the Confessio, occur 
some remakably beautiful varietes. 

S. Maria dell' Anima is the German National Church, 
containing the monument of Pope Hadrian VI., in which a 
very high nave is supported by six large pillars. Several 
columns of antique marbles, including a rare variety of 
Africano, have been introduced into this edifice, but neither 
here nor in S. Luigi de' Francesi, the French National Church, 
are the decorations so rich in valuable marbles as in most of 
the Italian churches. The pilasters of the showy Sicilian 
jasper give to this edifice a gaudy appearance, which is somxC- 
what modified by columns of Verde antico, gray, and other 
antique marbles ; the specimen of Lumachella gialla displays 
large and distinct shells. 



352 LIMESTONES AND MARBLES. 

S. Maria in Vallicella. — This church, though com- 
paratively modern, is one of the most richly decorated in 
Rome, and, perhaps, exhibits as many species of antique stones 
as can be found in any building of the kind. The list includes 
Brocatello, Giallo antico, Sette Basi, rare varieties of Porta 
Santa, Rosso antico, Bigio morato, Gialla e Nera, a beautiful 
variety of Pavonazzetto, Fior di Persico, rare kinds of Africano, 
Nero e Bianco, Verde antico. Breccia rossa, Occhio di Pavoni 
rosso. Breccia Traccagnina, and many species of alabaster. 
The pilasters of Gialla e Nera, a very elegant marble seen in 
one of the chapels, exhibits small veins of vivaceous yellow, 
orange, and white on a black ground. The seventh chapel on 
the left is excessively decorated with marbles, alabasters, 
gems, gilding, paintings, and other ornaments. 

San Marco was founded about the time of Constantine, and 
is notable for the Roman and Christian inscriptions built into 
the walls of the vestibule. The nave is sustained by twenty 
columns of Sicilian jasper and pilasters of Hymettus marble; 
near the High Altar stands a fine column of Breccia pavon- 
azza, of deep and light purple and white, affording a remark- 
able instance of one side of a column being in the light and 
the opposite side in the dark tints of the marble. 

Another example of Breccia pavonazza, exceeding in beauty 
that of San Marco, is seen in four columns near the High 
Altar of the Church of S. Maria Madelina ; while a third 
variety of this purple breccia occurs in S. Maria in Aquiro, a 
church ornamented with gems, alabasters, marbles, gilt, and 
mosaics. 

S. Agustino. — This building, said to be the first Roman 
church covered with a dome, is approached by a broad flight 
of steps made of travertine taken from the Colosseum. It is 
profusely ornamented with gems, antique stones, statues, 
monuments, and paintings, including Raphael's Prophet 
Isaiah. The columns claiming to be Fior di Persico differ 
from specimens in the Corsini Chapel in St. John Lateran ; 
they exhibit purple and yellow instead of white, with colors 



ANTIQUE STONES IN ROMAN CHURCHES. 353 

well blended, and seem to be of the same kind of marble as 
those of the first altar on the left. Near the High Altar 
are four columns of Nero e Bianco, and a small one of gray- 
marble. 

S. Lorenzo in Lucina. — This church is celebrated for 
the great painting of Guido Reni, one of the most impressive 
representations of the Crucifixion ever placed upon canvas. 
The most remarkable specimen of antique marble in this 
edifice is the High Altar, made of the very rare Occhio di 
Pernice, "eye of the partridge." 

San Pietro in Vaticano. — This celebrated church attracts 
more by its grandeur than by its beauty ; its immense col- 
umns, expansive walls, and gigantic monuments impress one 
with an overpowering sense of magnitude. For objects and 
spaces so large vast masses of marble would be required, 
therefore the rarest specimens of antiques should not be 
sought here, yet many of the most abundant species found 
in ancient ruins, and many of the most valued alabasters have 
been employed in the construction of this edifice. 

The portico is supported by immense columns of Africano, 
Cippolino, Pavonazzetto, red granite, and the gray granite of 
the Forum. The casements of the Porta Santa, opened only 
once in twenty-five years, are made of the marble which 
received its name from this door. The nave is lined by forty- 
four immense columns of Cotanello, while columns of Bigio, 
Tyrian, Porta Santa, Cippolino, Africano, Verde antico, Giallo 
antico taken from Trajan's Forum, Hymettus, Bigio morato, 
Nero e Bianco, Bigia lumachella, found near Hadrian's Villa, 
granites, and porphyries are arranged throughout the body of 
the church and Sacristy. 

Exquisite alabasters, remarkable for their rich colors, are 
very profusely used in the Confessio and other parts of the 
building, while among granites, perhaps the most elegant is 
the Granito persichino, with pink, white, and black crystals on 
a purple ground, if we except the rare green granite in the 
pedestal of the statue of St. Peter. 



354 LIMESTONES AND MARBLES. 

The number of churches selected as illustrations bear only 
a small proportion to the whole number found in Italy, still 
they are enough to show what vast quantities of ornamental 
stones were used by the ancients for architectural decoration ; 
but no description can convey an adequate idea of their 
beauty, elegance, and richness. 



Appendix A. 



AGE AND LOCALITY OF THE PRINCIPAL LIMESTONES. 



Lower Silurian, or Cambrian Limestones. 



Paleozoic Era, in- 
cluding the Cam- 
brian, Silurian, 
Devonian, and 
Carboniferous 
Ages 



Lower Silurian 



Western Hemisphere. 

Auroral and Martinal (of Rogers) . 

Bellerophon 

Bird's Eye 

Black River 

Blue of Kentucky .... 
Burnet Marble .... 

Calciferous 

Cape Girardeau .... 

Chazy 

Cincinnati 

Galena . . . . ' . 

Leptaena ...... 

Marbles of Tennessee (in part) 

Maclurea 

]\Iurchisonia Marble 

Quebec 

Receptaculite 

St. Peter's 

Trenton 

Ute Pogonip 

Utica 

Magnesian Limestones . 

Anticosti and Mingan Islands (in part) 

Orthoceratite of Point Levis . 

Easterii Hei?iisphere. 



United States. 
Some forma- 
tions found in 
British Amer- 
ica. 



British America. 



Bala, Hirnant, Caradoc 
Wrea . 

Connemara Marble . 
Grauwacke (probably) 
Aphrite L. or U. Sil. 
Orthoceratite . 
Gothland (in part) . 
Pentamerus . 
l^Pleta . 



England and Wales, 

Scotland 

Ireland . . . 

Germany 
■ Scandanavia . 
Russia . 



Europe. 



355 



356 



APPENDIX A. 



Paleozoic Era 



Upper Silurian , 



Upper Silurian Limestones. 
Western Hemisphere. 



fCatskill . . . . 
Clear Creek 

Cliff 

Clinton . . . . 

Crinoidal .... 

Delthyris or Spirifer 

Le Clair or Waukesha 

Lower H elder berg . 

Maysville 

Meniscus . . . . 

Niagara . . , . 

Oriskany . . . . 

Pre-Meridian (of Rogers) 

Pentamerus 

Racine . . . . 

Scalent (of Rogers) . 

Water-lime or Tentaculite 

Magnesian Limestones 



United States. A 
part found in 



British 
ica. 



Amer- 



Guelph or Gault (found in United States) 
Anticosti and Cape Gaspe (doubtful) 
Hudson's Bay (Magnesian) 



\\ 



British America. 



Eastern Hemisphere, 

Woolhope or Barr >| 

Wenlock or Dudley l Great Britain. 

Aymestry or Ludlow . ■ . . . .J 

Gothland (in part) j 

Upper Malmo j ^^^den. 

Waratah Bay (doubtful) Australia. 



Devonian . , 



Devonian Limestones. 
Western Hemisphere. 



Coralline or Falls 
Corniferous or Upper Helderberg 
Cadent (of Rogers) . 
Crinoidal of New Hampshire 
Hamilton .... 
Onondaga. 

Past-Meridian (of Rogers) 
Tully, Magnesian Limestones 



United States. 



APPENDIX A. 



357 



Paleozoic Era 



Devonian. 



Devonian Limestones {concluded). 
Eastern Hemisphere. 

Devon or Plymouth 

Ilfracombe, Comb Martin 

Babbicombe, Torbay »-.... 

Ipplepen, Torquay 

Birdiehouse (fresh-water formation) . 

Cornstone 

Clymenian Kalk (Devonian or Carboniferous) . T 

Eifel, Cypridinae I Germany, 

Stringocephalus J 



■ England. 

Scotland. 
Wales. 



Givet 



Griotte Marbles (possibly Carboniferous) 

Buchan . . . . 

Bindi ... . . . . 



France and Bel- 
gium. 
France. 

Australia. 



Carboniferous Limestones. 
Western Hemisphere, 



Carboniferous Age 
includes Sub-car- 
boniferous, Car- 
boniferous, and 
Permian Periods, 



Carboniferous 
riod . . . 



Pe- \ 



Archimedes or Kaskaskia 
Burlington 

Chaetetes . . . . 
Chester . . . . 
Chouteau . . . . 
Humboldt Mountains 
Kinderhook 
Keokuk . 

Lithostrotion or Barren . 
Lithographic . 
Maxville . . . . 
Pittsburg . . . . 
St. Louis . . . . 
Warsaw . . . . 
Wahsatch Mountains 
Magnesian Lmiestones . 
Hermosillo 



■ United States. 



Mexico. 



358 



APPENDIX A. 



Carboniferous Limestones {concluded^. 
Eastern Hemisphere. 



Paleozoic Era 



Sub-carboniferous 
Period . . . 



Mountain Limestone 

Great Scaur . . . . 
Marbles of Derby and Stafford 

Black Marble . . . . 



Armagh 

" Ekers," and part of the Irish Marbles 

Vise 



Great Britain and 
Ireland. 

England. 

Isle of Man and 
Anglesey. 

Ireland. 



Tournay, Hainault, Petit Granit 
Marbles of Gobzienne and Dinant . 

Culm 

White Moscow or Spirifer 
Fusilina, Producta, " Stina voi " 
Carrara (Statuary) and Bardiglio Marbles . 
Krol 



France and Bel- 
gium. 

Belgium. 

Germany. 

Russia. 

Italy. 
India. 



Permian Period 



Permian Limestones, 
Western Hemisphere. 

Interior Continental Basin . . . . -v 

Kansas, Black Hills I United States. 

Indian Territory J 



Eastern Hemisphere. 

Magnesian Limestones 



Zechstein, including Rauch-wacke . 
Rauhkalk, Plattendolomit, Fetid Limestone 
Magnesian, Modiola, Spitzbergen 
Verricano (the latest classification) . 
Australian Limestones .... 



Great Britain and 
Ireland. 

Germany. 

Russia. 

Italy. 

Australia. 



Mesozoic Era in- 
cludes the Trias- 
sic, Jurassic, and 
Cretaceous Pe- 
riods .... 



Triassic Limestones. 
Western Hemisphere. 

Distinctions between the Triassic and Jurassic 
strata in the United States not yet clear. 
The two systems found in 'the Western Inte- 
rior, the Rocky Mountains, and the Pacific 
Border 

Probably in British Columbia .... 



-United States. 



British America. 



3 



APPENDIX A. 



359 



Mesozoic Era 



Triassic . 



Triassic Limestones {concluded). 
Eastern Hefnisphere. 

' Penarth Beds, including the Avicula Contorta 

Beds . . _ 

Calcaire Coquillier 

Muschelkalk, including Encrinital and Tere- 

bratula Limestones, and Wellenkalk . 
Terraine Conchylien, or Raucli-grauer Kallc- 

stein 

St. Cassian Beds, including Guttenstein . 

St. Cassian and Hallstatt Red and White 

Marble 

Dachstein White and Gray Marble . 
Koessen, or Rhaetic Gray and Black Marble . 
Fire Marble of Carinthia .... 

Predazzit (Dolomite) 

Para and Teling (probably) .... 



England. 
France. 

t Germany. 
Switzerland. 

Austria. 



The Tyrol. 
India. 



Jurassic Period, in- 
cluding Liassic, 
Oolitic, and 
Wealden Epochs, 



Lower 

Oolite 

comprises : 



Jurassic Limestones. 
Western Hemisphere. 
Idaho and other Rocky Mountain Regions 

Eastern Hemisphere. 
Lower or Bath Oolite, Middle or Oxford 
Oolite, Upper or Portland Oolite . 

Inferior Oolite, a Calcareous Free- 
stone .... 
Stonesfield and Coll3nveston Cal 

careous Slates . 
Great or Bath Oolite . 
L Cornbrash and Forest Marble 
Middle Oolite ( Kelloway Rock, Coral Rag or 

comprises : I Coralline Limestones . 
Upper Oolite : Portland Stone, Purbec Beds 
Wealden Beds (Jurassic or Cretaceous) . 
Sussex or Petworth Marbles . 

Glyphite Limestone (Liassic) . 

Calcaire a Nerinees 

Caen Stone, Calcaire Marbre of Caen 
Calcaire Polypier, Marble of Argonne 
'< Blue Stone," " White Stone," " Pierre Rouge," 
Marbles of Montbard and Nancy . 
Nerinaen Limestone .... 

^ Alpine Limestone ( ? ) . 



United States. 



England. 



Eu- 



Continental 

rope. 
The Jura. 

France. 



Russia. 

Both Continents. 



36o 



APPENDIX A. 



Mesozoic Era 
Middle Lias . 



Lower Lias . 



Jurassic Limestones {concluded'). 
Eastern Hemisphere (concluded). 

' Solenhofen or Lithographic Stone . 
" Dogger," La Dall Nacree 

Ammonitico Rosso 

Cotanello Marble 

Biancone, identical with the Majolica of Milan 

(Jurassic or Cretaceous) 
Porto Venere Marble (Jurassic or Cretaceous) 
Mischio di Serravazza (?) 
Marbles of Siena (?) 
Jesalmir and Golden Oolite ... 



Germany. 
Switzerland. 



Italy. 



India. 



Cretaceous Limestones. 



Western Hemisphere. 



Cretaceous Period. 



Chalk (very little if any) . . . . 
Rotten Limestones ... 
Caprina, Caprotina, Exogyra . 
Turritella, Trigonia, Hydraulic 
Austin, Washita, and Ripley Limestones 
Suisun Marble of California . 
Limestone of Cerro de las Chonchas 
Hippurite 



Eastern Hemisphere. 



White Chalk 



Neocomian of Neuchatel . 
Inoceramus or Sewer-kalk 
Maestricht Beds 
Hils-Conglomerate . 
Faxoe, Terraine Danien . 
Planer-kalk, Mittlequader 
Spatangus, Serpulite, Aptychus 
Hippurite, Calcaire Pisolitique 
Marbre Napoleon . 
Zone of the Rudistes belong to this 
Occhio di Pavone, Scaglia 
Hymettus and Pentelic Marbles 
_ Bagh, Utatur, Trichinopoly, Arialur 



Period 



United States. 



Mexico. 

Island of Jamaica. 



1 Great Britain, 
I Continents of 
I Europe, Asia, 
J and Africa. 

[ Switzerland. 

Netherlands. 

Hanover. 

Denmark. 

f Germany. 

\ France. 

Switzerland. 
Italy. 
Greece. 
India. 



3 



APPENDIX A. 



36t 



Cenozoic Era . . 

Tertiary and Qua- 
ternary Periods . 



Tertiary includes 
Eocene, Miocene, 
and Pliocene 
Epochs . . . 



Tertiary 



Tertiary Limestones. 
Western Hemisphere. 



Orbitoides or Vicksburg . 
Clayborne Beds, Bluffs on the Tombigbe 
Cardita Beds, Tampa Bay Limestone 
White and Cheyenne Limestones . 
White, Coast, and Yellow Limestones 
Tosca, of Brazil, Patagonia Lmiestones 



Eastern Hemisphere, 

Nmnmulitic (the most characteristic) 

Headen and Bembridge Series . 
White Crag and Red Crag 
Calcaire Grossier, Calcaire Siliceux . 
Calcaire de la Beauce, Lits Coquillier 
Miliolite, Indusial (fresh-water) 
Travertines of Auvergne .... 

Molasse and Falun 

Rupelian, Bolderberg, Coralline Crag of Ant 

werp, Yprisian, Tongrian 
Kleyn Spawen Beds, Rupelmond Strata . 
Flysch, Nagelflue, Glarus Slates 

CEningen Deposits 

Mayence Basin, Litorinella 

Tripoli, or Polishing Stone of Bilin, Beds of 

Croatia 

Gratz and Leitha Limestones, Vienna Basin 
Alberese, Macigno, Verona Marble . 
The Superga in Turin, Hills of Rome . 
Lacustrine Strata of Val d'Arno 
Calcareous Tufa, Panchino (doubtful) 
Eastern Base of Mount Etna (Sicily) 
Girgenti Limestone (Sicily) 
Pierre Poros and Conglomerate Deposits of 

Pikerme 

Aralo-Caspian, or Limestone of the Steppes 

Limestone of Odessa .... 
Kirtha, Siwalik, Travancore 
Nahan (enclosing mammals) . 

Baimsdale 

Limestones of the Madeira, Azores, and Canary 

Islands. 



United States, 

West Indies. 
South America. 



In most countries 
of E. Hemisphere. 

England. 



\- France. 

Belgium. 

Switzerland. 
Germany. 
■ Austria. 



Greece. 
Russian Empire. 

India. 
Australia. 



362 



APPENDIX A. 



Quaternary Formations^ 

Cenozoic Era . . f Recent Formations, Tufas, Travertines, Bone 
Breccias. 

Sprudelstone of Carlsbad Austria. 

Regur, or Black Coton Clay . . . • 1 t j- 

Laterite, Kunker ) 

Quaternary Period . < Red and White Conglomerate .... Cuba. 

Breccia of Taurus Turkish Empire. 

Tabreez Marble Persia. 

Loess Formation China. 

Probably the Onyx Marbles of Mexico and 
Algeria. 






Appendix B. 



French Marbles. 



Decorative Stones exhibited at the Paris Exposition of i8y8, com- 
prisi7ig Marbles, Sei'pentines, Porpyhries, and Granites collected from 
the different Departments of France. 



Department 
Ardennes . 



Department of 
Aude . . . 



1. Charlemagne. — Black, with white and gray spots. 

2. Florence, — Reddish-brown, with gi-ay clouds, 

3. Rancennes (St. Anne), — Black, with white and gray shells. 
I 4. Rancennes (Florence). — Black, brown, and white. 

1. Griotte d'ltalie. — Black, tending to purple, and deep-red veins, 

2. Griotte Rouge. — Red, like Rosso antico, with small purple and 

white spots. 

3. Griotte Rouge Fleuri, — Same base as the preceding, crossed 

with distinct, compact, white veins, 

4. Griotte Rouge Vert. ■ — Red base, with greenish-gray spots. 

5. Griotte Grand Jaspe. — Red, with large spots of lighter red. 

6. Griotte Rose Isabelle. — Light-red, tints languid. 

7. Griotte Gris Flambre. — Delicate pink and gray in clouds. 

8. Felines-Incanot, — Light-red,- with gray clouds. 

9. Incanot-Dit-Languedoc, — Similar, with obscure white. 

10. Rouge-Antique-Villerembert, — Resembles Griotte, 

11. Languedoc- Rouge Turquin. — Light red, white, and gray, 

12. Gris-Agathe de Caunes. — Very dark gray or black base, with light- 

gray, yellow, red, and white clouds. 

13. Gris Agathe — Rose de Caunes. — Dark and light-red, with white, 

tints languid. 

14. Rose-de-Vif de Caunes. — Similar to the preceding. 



Department of 
Ariege . , . 



1, Noire-Grand-Antique. — Black and white, crossed with very fine, 

yellow lines, 

2, Griotte de Pyrenees, — Dull-red, with greenish-gi-ay clouds. 

3, Vert de Moulin, — Light dull-green, shades blended, 

4, Rose de 1' Ariege, — Yellowish-red and white, 

5, Sarencolin, — Red, brown, gray, purple, and yellow, 

6, Violette D'Arbessoit (breccia), — Purple, green, and white, tints 

languid. 

7, Isabelle de Seix, — Similar, with colors more distinct, 

8, Marbre de Moulis. — Black, with light-brown and white shells. 
Vert-Claire (locality not certain) displays delicate tints of green, 

blended with white ; resembles Cippolino. 
Bleu d'Aulis. — Delicate bluish-green in clouds. 



364 



APPENDIX B. 



Department of 
Allier . . . 

Department of 
Cote-d'Or . . 



Department of 
Basses Alpes . 



French Marbles (continued), 

Marbre de Dion. — Light brown, with white shells. 
Marbre de Fadonee. — Delicate yellow and red in clouds. 

Br^che de Rouviret. — Black, brown, gray, a little red, with frag- 
ments distinct ; resembles antique Traccagnina. 

Marbre de Pourcieu. — Light-red and grayish-white in clouds. 

Marbre de Condferon. — Light yellow, with pink and white veins. 

Pierre de Pompignan. — Light brown, with some white. 

Pierre de St. Ambroix. — Black, with small yellowish-white crys- 
tals ; resembles granite. 



Department of 
H antes Pyre- 
nees . . . 



Campan Vert Melange. — Red, brown, green, and pink. 

Campan Hortense Melange. — Light-red, green, with grayish-white 

crystals. 
Campan Rouge. — Dark red, light-red, with green spots and white 

veins. 
Campan Rouge Melange. — Similar to the Vert. 
Campan Vert Fonce. — Light and dark-green, with clear white veins. 
Campan Vert Rouge de Moulins. — Very dark green and red, with 

rose-white veins. 
Griotte de Sost. — Dark shades of red, with white spots. 
D'Herechede. — Languid reddish colors blended. 
Breche Portor Degers. — Black, with orange, yellow, and white. 
Breche Infernale de Regaude. — Black, with dark brown and white 

clouds. 
Beyrede a Nervure. — Red, gray, and yellow in clouds. 
Beyrede Rubane. — Bright red, with yellow. 
Beyrede Rouge Vif. — Same colors, with deeper red. 
SarencoHn Dore. — Deep-red, gray, and yellow. Other varieties 

with nearly the same colors. The Sarencolin marbles display 

lively and delicate reds, grays, browns, and yellows. Sometimes 

the fragments of this breccia are large. 
Lumachelle de Lourdes. — Grays, red, white, and yellow. 
Turquin D'Ossen. — Gray and white. 
Montgaillard. — Light gray, with white and black spots. 
Noire D Aspin. — Black and gray, in lines and spots. 



Department of 
Haute Ga- 
ronne . . . 



1. Nankin de Mancioux. — Shades of yellow, purple, pink, and white. 

2. Breche de Bouchire. — Black, with deep yellow and grayish-white 

fragments. 

3. Rouge Acajou de Cierp. — Red like the Rosso Antico, with fine, 

black veins, the whole covered with small particles like dust. 

4. Vielle Brun. — Large spots of light and dark red, some white. 

5. Breche de Lez. — Base of grays, with red covered with small, dark 

spots. 

6. Blanche Jaunette de Lez. — Clear white, with pink and yellow 

clouds. A very delicate marble. 

7. Marbre de Labarth. — Gray, with white veins. 



APPENDIX B. 



365 



Department 
Hautes Alpes. 



;{ 



French Marbles {continued). 

1. Cipolin de St. Maurice. — Light tints of pink, green, and grayish- 

white in veins. 

2. Vert de Ceillar. — Black, covered vnth thin, light-green clouds. 



Department of 
Haute Saone. 



Porphyry of St. Barthelemy. — Shades of green and reddish 
brown. 



Department 
Haute Savoie, 



{I. Gris de Pouilly. — WTiite and light-1 
2. Marbre de Taninges. — White, with 
3. Jaspe de St. Gervais. — Red, green. 



I. Gris de Pouilly. — WTiite and light-brown. 

shades of brown and yellow, 
some white. 



Department of 
Herault . . 



r I. Griotte Rouge et Bleu. — Dark-brown, deep red spots, and white 
veins. Colors less distinct than in some other varieties. 

2. Griotte CEil de Perdrix. — Black, with dark-red and white spots. 
Often used in ornamental work. 

3. Griotte Verte de Felines. — Dark-green, with red and white 
spots. 

4. Marbres de St. Pons. — Clear opal white, with yellowish and gray 
clouds. Very delicate and beautiful. 

5. Froide de Frontignan. — Reddish-brown, with small white veins. 



Department of 
the Jura . . 



Marbles of Sampons present three varieties : — 

1. Drab, with fine yellow lines, the whole dotted with purple. 

2. Yellowish base, with small brown spots of different shades. 

3. Similar to the second, except the base is reddish. 

4. Jaune Verni. '■ — Light yellow, crossed by red and purple lines. 

5. Jaune Dit Lamartine. — Light-yellow, with red lines. 



Brocatelle Violette de Chassel. — Red, white, brown, and yellow. 

Department of ( i- Marbre Clairse. — Light yellow, with small, dark spots. 
Lot-et-Garonne ^ 2. Marbre L'Argenais. — Rose-yellow, with veins of a deeper tint. 



Department 
Saone-et-Loire 



I. Rouge de Flaci. — Reddish-brown, with small yellowish- white 



{I. Kouge 
spots. 
2. NanteJ 



aune Rose. — Light-red and yellow, in clouds. 



The Napoleon Gris Grande Melange is a delicate and pleasing 
marble, offering shades of brown, with white, red, and yellow. 



{I. Vert Antique D'Orezza. — Different shades of purple, with greer 
spots. 
2. Marbre de Maltifeo. — Black, red, and white, blended. 
3. Marbre de San Garving. — White, with pink, and black veins. 



366 APPENDIX B. 

French Marbles {concluded^. 

In the collection from Marseilles were varieties of modern marbles remarkable for their 
resemblance to some of the antiques. Of these were a small column of Verde antique 
precisely like that seen at Rome and Naples, a yellow marble similar to the Giallo antico in 
some of its varieties, and a deep-red marble, which might be taken for the Rosso antico. 

In the fine collection of L'Ecole des Mines are many varieties of marbles, alabasters 
and serpentines of rich and vivid colors and rare excellence. 

• The onyx marble, so called, from Algiers, is extensively used in France since its 
rediscovery. 

The serpentines of France present many varieties ; they are generally green, ahd many 
of them very beautiful. The variety called Serpentine D'Estrival, Department Lot-et- 
Garonne, is very rich and elegant. It presents a deep-green base overspread with gauze- 
like clouds of a lighter green. A variety from Corsica, called Vert-de-Mer, is a sea-green, 
as the name signifies, on whose surface appear to float light-green clouds. The Serpentine 
des Quarrades is of the deepest green, seen through transparent yellow clouds. 

Some of the varieties contain red colors like the English serpentines, while others present 
the rare combinations of purple and yellow. 



Appendix C. 



Marbles of Great Britain and Ireland^ Germany^ Austria^ Switzer- 
land^ Sca7idinavia, Italy, a?id Greece.^ 

Great Britain and Ireland. 



Derbyshire and 
Staffordshire . 



Devonshire 

Somerset , . 
Isle of Man , 

Wales. . 



Scotland 
Hebrides 



Ireland 



Variegated white, gray, dove, blue, black, and russet. 

Dark, with different colored shells. 

Deep-red, with small dark and yellow spots. 

Black, with small white shells, 

Light-buif, light-brown, russet and black, with yellow shells. 

Rosewood. 

Deep orange and red ; yellow and red ; pink and white. 
Shades of brown ; red, orange, and yellow ; white and black. 
Dark and light reds ; orange and gray ; red and brown, 
i Reddish, with brown, red, yellow, and gray shells. 
Dark-bro-\vn, with light-yellow shells of Ammonites. 
Black ; dark, and hght breccias. 
Mumbles marble ; dark, with light-yellow spots. 
Brown, yellow, and purple breccia. 

Aberdeen greens ; Glen TUt ; white and dark. 

Three marble, light pink, or yellowish, with green spots. 

Irish green or Connemara ; yellowish, with light and dark-green ; light- 
browns and yellows ; Hght-green and white. 
Greens, with pink and white. 

Kilkenny, — Black, with white corals ; red and white. 
" Irish Sienna," mottled. 

Limerick, — Pink and white ; brown and gray. 
Clonomy, — Browns, with veins or spots, 
Cork, — Black and white. 

Kenmare Islands. — Black and white ; purple, white, and yellow. 
Galway. — Black. 



Serpentines 



■{ 



Lizard's Point. — Red, green, white, pink, purple, gray, and yellow, 

forming many varieties. 
Potsoy. — Red and white. 



* It is not supposed that this list comprises all the varieties of marbles of any given 
country, or that it may not include some not now used for the purposes of art. 

0^7 



368 



APPENDIX C. 



German Empire. 

Badra Marbles "j 
of Schwarz- f Dark-red ; gray and red ; dark-red, with white, ash, and yellow spots, 
burg . . . -^ 



Dark-gray, with yellow spots, an elegant marble. 
Ash color, with green and red. 
Saxon Marbles . • Pale-red ground, with white, light-green and sometimes purple, forming 
a beautiful variety. 
. Dark-red, found at Pirna. Other varieties combining different colors. 



Bavaria, Bai- 
reuth . . , 



Hof 



Other Bavarian 
Marbles . . 



Varieties of Baireuth marbles display a fine, light-yellow, with snow- 
white spots, highly valued in art. 

Reddish-gray, with black clouds. 

Marble similar to the Italian Breccia di Sarravezza. 

Light and dark gray ; white and black, with red spots 

Pale red, an elegant, glossy marble. 

Gray with black veins ; gray veined with pale green. 

Yellow, with small, red spots ; brown and blue with black clouds ; dark 
brown, with gray and light-red. 

Elegant varieties of yellow ; yellow striped with gray and red. 

Flesh-color with gray ; gray with veins and spots of red. 

Nuremberg marble, yellow, and other colors. 

Black marble ; and dark with green veins from Ratisbon. 



Marbles of Sile- 
sia ... . 



r Black marble of Frankenstein ; green with dark veins ; green with white 
' veins, used as a common building-stone ; black, with green spots. 

Greenish-yellow, used in the city of Breslau. 

Cipolin at Brieg on the Oder, used for walls. 



Prussia, Blan- 
kenburg . . 



The Blankenburg marbles afford a great variety veined and spotted with 

brown, red, yellow, gray, white, and other colors. 
Entrochal marble of variable colors, some blocks being veined with red 

and yellow, others with white, green, and brown. 
The Blankenburg marbles generally exhibit bright colors, a smooth, 

compact, and uniform texture, and are susceptible of a high polish. 

It is said the quarries were opened in 1721. 



{Compact shell marbles of gray and white, spotted with orange. 
Variegated marble of brown, red, purple, yellow, and ash-color. 
Black marble. 



Brunswick . . Ash-color, with red and purple veins. 
Hartz Moun- 



tains 



Moun- ■» 



Red, with black and white spots. 



APPENDIX C. 



369 



Austrian Empire. 



Carniola . . 


Black ; black and yellow var 


St. Cassian anc 


^ Pink and white. 


Hallstadt . 


Bohemia . . 


Ash-gray, with black spots. 


Salzburg . . 


Variegated gray and ivhite. 


Lei^burg . . 


Black variegated. 


Hall . . . 


Deep-green and deep-brown 


Carinthia . 


Fire marble. 


Tyrol. . . 


Predazzit. 



Found in the 
Cantons of 
Berne, Gene 
va, Grissons, 
and other 
places . . . 



Sweden and 
Norway . . . 



Italy . 



Switzerland. 

Ash-brown ; saffron-red ; yellow ; green ; black ; reddish purple ; black, 
and white brocatelle ; black and yellow ; gray with white veins ; iron- 
gray with black spots ; gray and yellow ; purple with white spots ; 
Cipolin marble ; Dendritic marble. 

Fiery red ; red with white and black. 

Red, with cinnabar spots and black veins. 

Ash-gray ; blood-red, with black and white veins. 

White, with small black spots. 

Scandinavia. 

Green ; white and green ; lucid white with light-green spots ; pale-green 
with deep-green veins ; gray with black veins, from Gothland. 

Deep-green mottled mth white, opaque spar and black spots, a beautiful 
marble from Ostergothland, similar to a variety of Great Britain and 
Austria. 

White with dark and red spots. 

Italy. 

White statuary of Carrara; black of Vicenza, Como, Varenna, and 

Bergamo. 
Dust-brown, called Polveroso of Pistoia. 
Red, black, and white of Varenna. 
White with black spots from Maggiore. 

Orange and red ; white with yellow and red, both from Verona. 
Yellow variegated, from Siena. 
Peach-blossom, near Caldana. 
Black and gold, from Porto Venere. 
White, with dark clouds, the Bardiglio of Carrara. 
Marbles with black, violet, red, yellow and green colors, from Carrara. 
Mischio, a breccia of white, brown, ash, yellow, purple, green, and 

other colors, of Sarravezza. 
Marbles with black, ash-white, flesh-red, and bright-red, from Bergamo. 
Green, called Green of Prato ; dove-colored. 
Green of Piedmont, called Ponsevera. 
Deep-red with white spar ; rose-red; flesh-color. 
Cinnabar color with white spar, called Peacock's eye. 



370 



APPENDIX C. 



Greece 



Modern Greece. 

Yellow base with brown clouds ; dark-red with dark veins. 
White and black ; dark ground, with fine white and yellow veins. 
White, red, and yellow, colors mixed. 
Grayish-white covered with black, like shells. 

Deep-red and gray breccia j light pink with white veins ; varieties in 
browns. 



INDEX. 



Abbas, the Great, 246. 
Abercrombie, labradorite of, 103. 
Absalom's Pillar, 239. 
Abyssinia, mountains of, 272. 

marine beds of, 272. 
Acalephs, 19, 24. 
Acephals, 27, 28. 
Acervularia, T^. 
Achaia, 201. 
Actinoids, 19, 20. 
Aden, situation of, 245, 246. 

lava of, 246. 
Adirondacks, 55. 
Adrianople, 229, 230. 
Adriatic Sea, 187, 229. 
Afghanistan, 251-253. 
Africa, 272-279. 
Agaric mineral 6, 7. 
Agassiz, 115, 197. 
Agates, 159. 
Agra, grandeur of, 265. 
Ahmed Shah, 265. 

tomb of, 252. 
Ahmedabad, buildings of, 265. 
Aiholi, 263. 
Ajaccio, 199. 
Ajasson, 287, 301. 
Akber, 265. 

Akshivan salt mines, 221. 
Alabama, 60, 83, 84. 
Alabaster, description of, 7. 

Antique, 313-315. 

name of, 314. 

sculptures in, 196 
Alabastro Bianco, 315, 316. 

Cotognino, 316. 

Dorato, 319. 

Fiorito, 318. 

Fortezzino, 318 

a Giaccione, 316. 

a Nuvole, 317. 

a Occhi, 317. 

a Onice, 316. 

di Palombara, 319. 

a Pecorella, 317, 318. 

Pomato, 316. 

a Rosa, 319. 

Sardonico, 317. 

a Tartar uga, 317. 
Aladdin's Cave, 263. 



Albania, 206. 

Alberese, 187, 188, 278. 

Alcantara, 182. 

Alcmseonidae, 282. 

Alcyoniae, 18. 

Alcyonoid, 19. 

Aleppo, 5, 305. 

Alesia, 144. 

Alexander, 160, 237, 248, 251. 

sarcophagus of, 275. 
Alexandrian Library, 160. 
Algae, 20. 
Algeria, onyx of, 7, 113, 277. 

limestones of, 277. 
Alhama, 183. 
Alhambra, 183. 
Ali Dagh, petroleum of, 243. 
Allahabad, 265. 
Alleghanies, 55, 59. 
Alluvium, 85, 238, 272. 
Almeria, 183. 
Alphaeus, 202. 
Alps, 162 et passim. 

Apuan, 185, 186. 

Austrian or Carnic, 176. 

Central, 162. 

Eastern, 162, 163. 

French, 139. 

Maritime, 184. 

Northern, 163. 

Pennine, 191. 

Salzberg, 163. 

Styrian, 162. 

Venetian, 163, 187, 188. 

Western, 163. 
Alpine formation, 112, 

limestone, 117, 164, 202. 

table-land, 146. 

Trias, 162. 
Altai Mountains, gems of, 227. 

silver mines of, 226. 
Altenberg limestones, 157. 
Alto de las Caxones, 113. 
Alum-stone, 58. 
Alveolites, 198. 

Amazon, rocks of the, 115, 116. 
Amergau, 157. 
Amherst stone, 63. 
Amiantus, 321, 322. 
Ammonite, 36 et passim. 

beds, 158. 

marble, 134. 

Z7^ 



37^ 



INDEX. 



Ammonitico rosso, i86, 187, 188. 

Amphistegina, 175. 

Ampularia, 38. 

Ancellaria, 32. 

Ancient Tertiary Sea, 220, 228, 271. 

Ancylas, 33, 38. 

Andalusia, 183. 

Andes, 112, 114-118. 

Angers, coal region of, 148. 

Anglesey, 121, 122. 

Animal kingdom, 13-38. 

Annelids, 34, 37, 179. 

Anomia, 302, 303, 304. 

Anossoff, Col., 226. 

Anticosti, 105, 106. 

Anti-Libanus, 237. 

Antioch limestone, 236. 

Antiochus, 249. 

Ant Stone, 158. 

Antique colored marbles, 288. 

white marble, 280. 

stones in Rome, 331. 
Aosta, buildings of, 191. 
Apennines, rocks of, 184, 185, 188, 208. 

scenery of, 193. 
Aphrite, 157. 
Apollonius, 334. 
Appalachians, 55, 56. 
Aptychus limestone, 163. 
Arabah, marble of, 276. 
Arabia, 241, 245, 246. 
Arabs, 249, 277. 
Aralo-Caspian, 219, 220, 221. 
Aras, valley of the, 221. 
Area, 279. 
Arcadia, 201. 
Arch of Constantine, 290. 

Marcus Aurelius, 351. 
Architecture of India, 265. 
Ardennes, 141. 
Arganeh Madden, 232. 
Argolis, conglomerate of, 201, 202. 
Argonne marbles, 145. 
Argos, plains of, 201. 
Argostola, remains of, 208. 
Arialur group, 260. 
Aristotle, 198. 
Arkansas, 86-88. 

river limestones, 95. 
Armay-le-Duc marbles, 141. 
Armenian monastery, 232. 
Arno, valley of the, 189. 
Articulates, 18, 37. 
Arzana, situation of, 217. 
Asaca, his works, 263. 
Ascalon, 239. 
Ascidian mollusks, 27. 
Ascoli, travertine of, 195. 
Asia Minor, cities and ruins of, 231. 
Assam, 258, 259. 

Assisi limestone, 188. • 

Assuhar, 254. 
Assyrian Empire, 243. 

marbles, 138. 

sculptures, 7, 160. 



Astarte limestone, 170. 

Astrachan, Steppes of, 218-220. 

Astrias, 105. 

Atherfield clay, 30. 

Athyris, 28. 

Atkinson, 226, 227. 

Atlantic Border, 90. 

Atlas Mountains limestone, 278. 

Atolls, 20. 

Atrypa, 28. 

Augusta Mountains limestone, 92. 

Rauracorum, 168, 169. 
Auroral series, 56. 
Austria, 172-176. 
Australia, 268-271. 
Auvergne, limestone of, 145. 
Auxerre, cathedral of, 143. 
Ava, 259. 

Aventurin, vase of, 225. 
Aveyron, gorge of, 149. 
Avon River, 134. 
Avicula, 29. 

contorta beds, 128, 257. 
Awirs limestone, 153. 
Aymestry limestone, 123, 124. 
Azani, ruins of, 234. 
Azoic rocks, 103. 
Azores, 279. 
Azotus or Ashdod, 239. 
Aztec Springs, ruins at, 94. 

B 

Baalbec, extensive ruins of, 237, 238. 

marble, 64, 65. 
Baber, tomb of, 253. 
Babbicomb limestone, 134. 
Babylon, plains of, 241. 

remains of, 243. 
Bacculites, 36. 
Baden, 165, 168. 

molasse of, 165. 
Bagdad, alabaster and marble, 244. 
Bagh group, its fossils, 261. 
Bailly limestone and marble, 139, 143. 
Bairnsdale limestone, 270. * 

Baku limestone, 220. 
Bala beds, 121, 122. 
Balderberg beds, 132. 
Balkan Mountains, 229. 
Ball stones, 123, 173. 
Baltic, marbles of the, 35. 
Baltimore crystal, 58. 
Banditti, haunts of, 183. 
Bangor, 121. 
Banikot group, 256. 
Barbadoes, no, in. 
Barbarini Faun, 282. 
Bardiglio marble, 185, 193, 287. 
Barjosien limestone, 153. 
Barr limestone, 123. 
Barra marble, 115. 
Barrande, J., 35, 172, 173. 
Barrens limestone, 81. 



INDEX. 



373 



Barton clay, 32. 
Basalts, antique, 323. 

statues of, 277. 
Bas-Boulonnais limestone, 144. 
Bashkirs, 226. 
Basin of Bordeaux, 219. 

Bulgaria, 228. 

the Halys, 233. - 

Wallachia, 228. 
Bass' Ranch, fossils of, 100. 
.Bath Oolite, 128. 
Baths of Diocletian, 324. 

Titus, 311. 
Battle of Gauls and Romans, 144, 145. 

Poictiers, 147. 
Bavaria, 164, 165. 
Bay of Bengal, 259. 
Ba^'onne, 139. 
Beaumaris Castle, 122. 
Beaumont, E. de, 201, 204. 
Beauvais marble, 145. 
Becraft's Mountain, 52. 
Bedford quarry, 64. 
Bedouins, 241, 245. 
Behring Strait, 179. 
Belemnites, 36, 37. 
Belgium, 151 -154. 

marbles of, 153, 154. * 
Belgrade, 228. 
Bellagio, 189. 
Bellerophon, 23- 

limestone, 79. 
Beloochistan, 251-253. 
Beloptera, 38. 

Belvedere, sculptures of the, 334, 335. 
Bembridge series, 33. 
Benicia limestone, 97. 
Berea Grit, 63, 
Bergamo marble, 190. 
Berlin formation, 158, 159. 

Museum of, 88, 159, 160. 
Bessarabia, 219. 
Bethany, strata of, 238. 
Bethlehem, 240, 
Bhima limestone, 241, 262. 
Biancone, 163, 172, 186, 187. 
Bicherri, village of, 237. 
Bielaretsh, hills of, 225, 
Biledjik, 232. 
Bindi limestone, 269. 
Bir, chalk of, 241. 
Birdie House formation, 126. 
Bird's-eye limestone, 52, 69, 74, 104, 105. 
Bischof, 159. 
Black or Cambridge, limestone, 63. 

Forest, 16S. 

Mountains, 14^.. 
limestone, 97. 

River limestone, 52, 56, 69, 74, 104, 105. 

Sea deposits, 233. 
Blad Recam, 314. 
Blaini group, 256. 
Blanford, 257. 

Blankenburg marble, 23, 35. 
Blauenberg^ 170. 



Blastids, 25, 26. 
Blue-grass region, 80. 

John, 125. 

limestone, 56, 62, 79, So, 
, Nile limestone, 272. 

Ridge, 55, 58, 59. 

Stone, 141, 154. 
Bluff formation, 85. 
Boeotia, 202. 
Bogdo, Great, 217, 218. 

Little, 218. 
Bohemia, 35, 173, 174. 
Bolan Pass, 252, 253. 
Bonne-Chere River, 104. 
Borghamm, 178, 
Borneo limestone, 271. 
Bosnia limestone, 228. 
Bosphorus limestone, 230. 
Botryoidal structure, 3. 
Boussu, 153, 
Bozrah, ruins of, 240. 
Braccio Nuovo, 332. 

sculptures of, 332, 333. 
Brachiate Mollusks, 27. 
Brachiopods, 27, 28. 
Brain-coral, 23. 
Brazil table-land, 115, 116. 
Bundelkund limestone, 259. 
Burmah, forests of, 258, 259. 

gems and minerals of, 259. 
Breccia, description of, i. 

di Aleppo, 236, 306. 

of Antioch, 305. 

Bianca e Nera, 309. 

bone, 181, 183, 184, 271. 

the Cataracts, 273. 

Corallina, 306, 307. 

Color di Rosa, 307. 

of Cuba, 108. 

Dorata, 306. 

Dourlers, 153. 

de Florennes, 154. 

Gialla e Nera, 307. 

of Gebel Ghareb, 275. 

lacustrine, 147. 

of Mycene, 208. 

Pavonazza, 308. 

Rossa, 309. 

di Simone, 188. 

a Seme Santo, 308. 

di Sette Basi, 309. 

of Taurus, 241. 

Traccagnina, 308. 

della Villa Adriana, 307, 308. 

Verde d' Egitto, 310. 

of Zenobia, 242. 
Brecciato Rosso, 305. 
Breslau, mountains of, 158. 
Briarean crinoid, 26. 
Bris marble, 143, 
British America, 102-108. 

Army, 252, 253. 

Museum, 7, 136-138, 243. 
Brittany, marbles of, 148. 
Brocatelle de Bourgogne, 145. 



374 



INDEX. 



Brocken, 157. 
Brongniart, 195. 
Brunswick limestone, 155. 
Brussa, 232, 236. 
Bryozoans, 20, 27. 
Buccinum, 32. 
Buchan limestone, 269. 
Buddha, 259, 263. 
Buddhist Temples, 264, 268. 
Buff limestone, 63. 
Buffon, 142. 
Buhrstone, 60. 
Bulla, 33, 38. 

Bullitt Co., Encrinites of, 80. 
Burgundian marbles, 142. 

sculptures, 169. 
Burlington limestone, 67, 68, 72, 75, 87. 
Burnt Bluff deposits, 70. 

Region, 233. 
Burton, 276. 



Cabinet of Masks, 338, 339. 

Caboul, 252, 253. 

Caddis-worm, 145. 

Caen Stone, 4, 139, 140, 141. 

Caernarvonshire, 121, 122. 

Cairo, 274. 

Calah, palaces of, 160. 

Calamary, 36. 

Calaveras Co. limestone, 100. 

Calcaire de la Beauce, 139, 147. 

coquillier, 139, 145, 153. 

h, discerates, 29. 

marble, 140, 

moellon, 139, 147. 

k nerinees, ;^2' 

grossier, 4, 5, 139, 148, 149. 

polypiers, 139, 141, 142. 

primitif, 178. 

siliceux, 139, 149. 
Calcareous pyramids, 278. 
Calcasieu limestone, 85. 
Calceola, 28. 
Calciferous formation, 56, 76, 94, 104. 

sandstone, 54, 71, 85. 
Calico Rock, 87. 
California, 96-101. 
Calne, Oolite of, 27. 
Cambrian, 40. 
Campan marble, 146. 
Campagna, 190. 
Campolodiscus, 174. 
Canada, Eozoic rocks of, 102. 

fossils, 105, 107. 

marbles, 103-105. 

serpentines, 103, 104. 
Cancellaria, 38. 
Canons, 92, 93, 98. 
Canon of Cascade River, 96 

St. Andreas, 97. 
Canova, 193. 



Cantabrian Mts., 181. 
Canterbury Cathedral, 141. 
Canton of Appenzell, 164. 

Argau, 169, 170. 

Basle, 169, 170. 

Berne, 169. 

Glarus, slates of, 164, 271. 

Lucerne, 164. 

St. Gall, 164. 

Schwytz, 164. 

Soleure, 169, 170. 
Cape Breton Island marbles, 107. 

Pessaro limestone, 198. 
Cappadocia, 297. 
Caprina, 31. 

limestone, 44, 175. 
Caprotina, 31. 

limestone, 44, 163, 229, 277. 
Caput Medusa, 26. 
Caractacus, 121, 189. 
Caradoc beds, 121, 122. 
Carboniferous age, 33 ei passim. 

limestone, 59 " 

period, 43 " 

Cardita, 31. 

beds, 84. 
Cardium, 30, 38. 
Carlesbad hot springs, 174. 
Carrara marbles, 4, 6, 49, 116. 

age of, 186, 193. 

uses of, 192, 193. 

varieties of, 193, 194. 
Carinthia marble, 176. 
Carpathian Mountains, 219. 
Carthage, ancient, 278. 

limestone, 82. 

metalliferous beds of, 182. 
Cascade River limestone, 96. 
Cashmere, valley of, 257. 
Caspian Sea, 219, 220. 
Castalian Fountain, 203. 
Castle of St. Angelo, 282, 293. 
Castra Regia, 157. 
Catacombs, 5. 
Catania limestone, 197. 
Catskill or Delthyrus limestone, 42, 54, 74. 
Caucasus Mountains, 219, 221 
Caunes marbles, 146, 147. 
Cave and cliff dwellings, 94. 

City limestone, 100. 
Caverns, or Caves, 9-12. 
Cavern of Adelsberg, 10. 

Adullam, 238. 

Antiparos, 10, 207, 208. 

Ball's, II. 

of Big Saltpetre, 11. 

Billa Soorgum, 263. 

Borden, 65. 

Bower,' 99. 
Caverns of the Clain River, 147. 

Egeria, 329. 

EUora and Elephanta, 10, 263, 264. 

Franconia, 64, 157. 

of the Less, 152. 

Luray, 11, 12. 



INDEX. 



375 



Cavern of Machpelah, 238. 

Mammoth, 81. 
Caverns of Parnassus, 203. 
Cavern, Wier's, 10, 64. 

Wyandotte, 65, 66. 
Cedar River limestone, 73. 
Central America, 112. 
Cenozoic, 44. 
Cephalates, 27, 31-34. 
Cephalopods, 27, 34-37. 
Cephalonia limestone, 208. 
Cephissus, valley of the, 202. 
Ceratite, 36. 
Cerithium, 32, 38, 129. 

limestone, 158. 
Cesi limestone, 188. 
Chaeronea, 203. 
Chaetetes, 57, 70, 216, 225. 

limestone, 75. 
Chain-coral, 23. 
Chair of Kildare, 123. 
Chalcedony, 190. 
Chalcis, 202, 207. 
Chalk, 2, 44, 132, 148, 238. 

Bluffs, 88. 
Chama, 38. 

Chambered shells, 34, 35. 
Champlain valley, 48. 
Chares, the sculptor, 300. 
Chari beds, 260. 
Charlemont marble, 142, 154. 
Charriages limestone, 170. 
Chazy limestone, 69, 70, 72. 
Chemung limestone, 79. 
Chernites, 282. 

Chester limestone, 59, 67, 75, 81. 
Cheyenne limestone, 92. 
Chiaramonti, ^^3, 334- 
Chicago, 68, 69. 
Chihuahua, 113. 
Chili, 118. 

Chilpansingo limestone, 112. 
Chimay, 151, 153, 
China, 226, 227. 
Chinrapatan, statue at, 264. 
Chios, 206, 297, 305. 
Chiton, 33, 38. 
Chivala, table^land of, 114. 
Chonetes, 28. 
Chouteau limestone, 68. 
Churches of Rome, 347-354. 
Church of S. Agnese, 321, 351. 

S. Andrea della Valle, 348. 

S. Antonio de Portuguese, 308. 

S. Augustino, 352. 

S. Carlo in Catinari, 307. 

S. Cecilia in Trastevere, 298. 

S. Clemen te, 351. 

S. Crisogono in Trastevere, 328. 

S. Croce in Gerusalemme, 299, 327. 

S. Dionigi, 294, 312. 

SS. Domenico e Sisto, 208, 351. 

the Gesu, 347. 

S. Giovanni in Fronte, 328. 

S. Giovanni in Laterano, 350. 



Church of SS. Giovanni e Paolo, 330. 

S. Lorenzo in Lucina, 353. 

S. Lorenzo in Miranda, 292. 

S. M. degli Angeli, 324. 

S. M. deir Anima, 351. 

S. M. in Aquiro, 352. 

S. M. in Ara Coeli, 348. 

S. M. Liberatrice, 348. 

S. M. Madehna, 352. 

S. M. Maggiore, 349. 

S. M, Sopra Minerva, 347. 

S. M. della Scala, 303. 

S. M. Trastevere, 348. 

S. M. in Via, 308. 

S. M. Via Lata, 303. 

S. M. in Vallecella, 351. 

S. M. della Vittoria, 306. 

San Marco, 352. 

S. Nicolo in Carcere, 323, 328. 

S. Panteleo, 351. 

S. Paolo, 284, 316, 330. 

S. Pietro in Vaticano, 353, 

S. Pietro in Vincoli, 284. 

S. Prassede, 350. 

S. Prisca, 307. 

S. Pudenziana, 308. 

S. Sabina, 323, 

S. Sophia, 235, 327. 
Cicero, 294, 301. 
Cidaris, 27, 
Cilicia, 236. 

Cincinnati, 62, 70, 76, 104. 
Cipolin marble, 144, 146, 157, 171. 
Cities of Palestine and Syria, 239. 

east of the Jordan, 240. 
Ciottoli d'Arno, 311. 
Civita Vecchia, 189. 
Civifella, 193. 
Clark, 254. 
Clayborne beds, 84. 
Clear Creek limestone, 68. 
Cliff limestone, 62, 63, 80. 
Clinton limestone, 41, 57, 62, 70. 
Clonomy marble, 135. 
Clymenia, 35. 

limestone, 35. 
Coal, 74, 82, 216, 270. 
Coast limestone, 109, 

Range, 96. 
Coccoliths, 20. 
Colorado, 93-96. 
Colosseum, 6, 240, 352. 
Columbus limestone, 63. 
Columnaria, 24. 

Columns of the N. P. Bank, 134. 
Comanche Peak, fossils of, 86. 
Comatula crinoids, 26. 
Comb Martin limestone, 124. 
Comus Woods, 123. 
Conchifers, 28. 
Concretions, 2. 

Condroz, Psammites of, 151, 152 
Condrusian system, 152. 
Conglomerate of Bristol, 127. 

Burnot, 152. 



n^ 



INDEX. 



Conglomerate of the Morea, 201. 
Congo, Cliffs on the, 278. 
Connecticut, 50, 51. 
Connemara marble, 123, 135. 
Conocardium, 28. 
Constantine, situation of, 277, 

limestone, 277. 
Constantinople, 235, 275. 
Conularia, 34. 
Conus, 32, 38. 
Contra Costa Hills, 96. 
Cook, G. H., 54. 
Copper mines, 100, 
Coquimbo marble, 118, 
Cork marble, 136. 
Corals, 19-24, 40 et passim. 
Coral limestone, 169 " 

marble, ']^ " 

Rag, 129, 145, 218. 

Reefs, 21, 43, 45, 61, 269. 

Islands, 21. 
Corallines, 20, ■t^']. 
Corbula, 117. 
Cordilleras, 112, 114. 
Corinth, 204, 205, 297, 298. 
Cornbrush, 128. 
Corniferous period, 22, 42, 50. 

limestone, 43, 79. 
Cornstone, 124. 
Cornu Ammonis, 36. 
Corsi, 204, 280 et passim. 
Corsica, 199. 
Corsini Chapel, 296. 

Palace, 303. 
Cos, deposits of, 207. 
Cosmic dust, 179, 180. 
Costican, 302. 
Cote d'Or Fountain, 142. 

limestone, 141. 
Cottanello marble, 188. 
Cotton Rock, 87. 

wood, 91. 
Couleur-de-Chair marble, 147. 
Courland, 214. 
Court of the Octagon, 323. 
Cowries, 32. 
Cox, 64. 
Cracow, 218. 
Crapaud, a breccia, 145. 
Cretaceous period, 44 et passim. 

limestone, 171 et passim.. 
Crete Labyrinth of, 205, 206. 
Cretone of Alduini, 189. 
Crimea, 218, 219. 
Crinoids, 24, 27. 

Crinoidal limestone, 50, 141, 144, i 
Crista Galli, 29. 
Crosby, W. O., 116, 120. 
Crustaceans, 22. 
Ctesiphon, ruins of, 243. 
Cuba, 108. 

Cucumber sponge, 19. 
Culm, 156. 

Cumberland table-land, 'j'j. 
Cure, valley of the, 143. 



Cutch, 260. 

Cuttle-fish, 34. 

Cuvier, 28, 149, 

Cyathophylloids, 22. 

Cyclades, 205, 

Cyclas, 31. 

Cyclopean walls, 208, 209. 

Cydnus, valley of the, 236. 

Cyprea, 32, 38. 

Cypress Pond limestone, 82. 

Cyprina, 31. 

Cypridina limestone, 157. 

Cypris, 126, 130. 

Cyrena, 31. 

Cyrene, ruins of, 298. 

Cyrus or Kur River, 221. 

mausoleum of, 248. 
Cytherea, 31, 38. 
Cystids, 25. 
Cyzicus, ruins of, 208. 

buildings of, 299. 



D. 



Da Costa, 22, 154, 159. 

Daghestan limestone, 220. 

Daluku limestone, 246. 

Damascus, 315, 316. 

Damascene arms, 222, 226. 

Dana, 18, 20, 22, 26, 52, 60, 84, 115, 131. 

Danbury limestone, 51. 

Danube limestone, 229. 

D'Archiac, 203. 

Darius, 248. 

Darwin, 116, 119. 

Davidson, 28. 

Dayton limestone, 62. 

Dead Sea limestone, 240, 241. 

Deccan plateau, 254. 

trap, 261. 
Deer Island serpentine, 52. 
Delaware, 57, 58. 
Delemont, quarries of, 170. 
Delhi, 263. 
Del Monte, Sig., 138. 
Delthyris limestone, 42, 54, 74. 
Deluge of Deucalion, 230. 
Demidoff copper mines, 222, 226. 
Dendera, lunettes of, 275. 
Dendrite, 311. 
Denmark, 176, 177, 
Deposito Dagh limestone, 229. 
Derbend limestone, 220. 
Derbyshire, 124, 125. 

marbles, 23, 52, 134. 
Derwent River, 125. 
Desert of Adel limestone, 272. 

sandstone, 270. 
Devonian age, 40 et passim. 

formations, 124 et passim. 

limestones, 96 et passim.. 

marbles, 22, 107, 124, 134. 
Diadumenos, 137. 



INDEX. 



m 



Diamond limestone, 260, 263. 

sandstone, 259. 
Diatoms, n, 45. 
Dicer as, 29. 
Dinotherium, 175. 
Dirt Beds, 130. 
Dneiper River, 216, 219. 
"Dogger," 169. 
Dolomieu, 3. 
Dolomite, 3, 4. 

of the Alps, 163. 

of the Apennines, 185. 

the Binnen Thai, 163. 

black, 222, 257. 

of the Guadalquiver, 183. 

of Lake Como, 189. 

of the Likh Mountains, 221. 

marbles, 171 et passim. 

Mountains, 171. 

of St. Gotthard, 163. 

Spain, 182, 183. 
Don River, 216. 

Cossacks, Steppes of the, 216, 218, 219. 
Donati, 187. 
Donax, 31. 
Donegal marble, 135. 
Donetz, 216, 218. 
Doret marble, 171. 
Dorpat, fossils of, 215. 
Dover marble, 53. 
Drachstein limestone, 176. 
Druidical Temple, 143. 
Drummond's Island, fossils of, 70. 
Dubuque, 68, 69. 
Duck's River, cliffs of, 79. 
Dudley marble, 123, 177. 
Dumont, 152. 
Dun-stone, 125. 
Durham marbles, 125, 127. 
Dwina River, alabaster of the, 217. 



E. 

East India limestone, 127, 
Echinoderms, 19, 24-27. 
Echinus, or Echinite, 27. 
Ecuador limestone, 116. 
Eden, 227. 

Edict Columns, 263, 264. 
Egypt, 272. 

geology of, 273. 

labyrinth of, 206. 

limestones and marbles of, 273, 

petrified forest of, 274, 275. 

sandstone of, 273. 

structures of, 273, 274. 
Egyptian alabaster, 275, 276. 

breccia, 275, 

granite, 273. 

pebbles, 116. 

Room, 344, 345, 

sculptures, 138. 
Ehrenberg-, n, 45, 174. 
Eichstadt limestone, 157. 



Eifel limestone, 154. 
Eisenrahm, 141. 
Ekaterinburg, 222. 
"Ekers," 125. 
Elba, 198, 199. 

granite of, 327. 

serpentine of, 195. 
.Elburz Moyitains, 221, 247. 

turquoise of the, 251. 
Eleusis marbles, 204. 
Elgin marbles, 136. 
Elphinstone, 264, 265. 
Elysian Fields, serpentine of, 55. 
Emilia, 185, 192. 
Emmons, 60. 
Emperor Alexander Severus, 329, 348. 

Augustus, 6, 191, 239, 320, 

Claudius, 291, 315. 

Commodus, 332. 

Constantine, 327, 

Diocletian, 191. 

Domitian, 297. 

Firuz, 265. 

Gordianus, 291. 

Hadrian, 230, 307, 319. 

Hehogabalus, 329. 

Justinian, 231, 235. 

Nero, 297. 

Nicholas, 225. 

Trajan, 182. 

Valerian, 249, 327. 
Encrinites, 25, 26. 
Encrinal limestone and marbles, 42 et 

passim. 
Encrinus liliiformis, 25, 145, 155. 
Entrochal limestone and marble, 25, 142, 

144, 148, 
Entrochi, 25. 
Eocene, 45. 
Eozoic era, 39. 

rocks, 39, 40. 
Eozoon, 24, 115, 116, 117. 

Bavaricum, 158. 

Canadense, 8, 103, 178. 
Ephesus, 235, 288. 

marble of, 2S8- 
Epsom salt, 133. 
Erie Canal, 53. 
Erivan, 221. 

Erk erode, 155. \ 

Esterel Mountains, 147. 
Esthonia, 213, 214. 
Etruscan Room, 344. 
Euboea, 207, 291, 292. 
Euphrates, alabaster of the, 232. 

basin of the, 241-243. 
Eurotus, 202. 
Everglades, 61. 
Exogyra, 29, 55, 88, 158. 

F. 

Fairy-stone Brook, 26. 
Falls of Montmorency, 105. 



378 



INDEX. 



Falls limestone, 79. 
Falun, 50, 139, 152, 165. 
Farnese Palace, 325. 
Faun of the Capitol, 296. 
Fauna of India and Africa, 261. 
Faustina, bust of, 317. 
Favosites, 22. 
Faxoe, 177. 

formation, 36, 132, 177. 
Fayette County limestone, 81. 
Feather-stone, 24. 
Fenestella, 27. 
Ferhaud, the sculptor, 249. 
Ferozabad, 262. 
Fezzan, 278. 
Field of Fire, 220. 
Fielding, 22. 
Finland, 177. 
Fire Island, 108, 

marble, 176. 

opal, 112. 

stone, 54. 
Florence, buildings of, 192, 195. 

building-stone, 165, 186. 
Florentine mosaics, 311. 
Flaminius, defeat of, 189. 
Florida, 60, 61. 
Flustra, 27. 

Flysch, 164, 165, 186, 189, 277. 
Fontana, G., 138. 
Foraminifera, 19. 
Forest marble, 7, 128, 134. 
Fortification marble, 7, 318. 
Fort Adams limestone, 50. 

Tejon limestone, 98. 
Fossils, classification of, 13-17. 

description of, 17-37. 

of the Paris Basin, 38. 
Fossil-wood, 259, 
Foster's Kohle, 159, 
Fountain of Borghese, 303. 
France, 139-150. 
Fraser, 248. 
Freezing Cavern, 217. 
Frejus, porphyry of, 328. 
Fremont's Pass, 99. 
Fuchs, T., 199. 
Fucoids, 52. 

Fujiyama, volcano of, 266. 
Fusilina, 19. 

limestone, 75, 216, 225. 
Fusus, 32. 
Futtehpur, ruins of, 265. 



Gabbro, 194. 

of Imprunata, 195, 321. 

rosso, 198. 
Gaeta, 187. 
Gaillonella, 37, 173. 
Gaj group, 253, 256, 260. 
Galena limestone, 69, 72, 73, 74. 
Gallery of Candalabra, 340-344. 



Gallery of Statues, 337, 338. 
Gal way Bay, 125, 
Ganges, plain of the, 254. 
Garden of Eden, site of, 243, 
Gardner's River, travertine of, 5, 6. 
Garnet Crystals, 100. 
Gaspe pebbles, 107. 
Gasteropods, 31, 32, 33. 
Gavilan Range, 98. 
Gay-lussite deposits, 92. 
Gaza, 239. 

Geelong, limestone, 270, 271. 
Gelaleh Mountains marble, 276. 
Genesee valley limestone, 100. 
Genoa, 186. 

basin of, 221, 
Georgia, 60, 61. 
Gerasa, ruins of, 240. 
Gervillia, 155, 218. 
Geodes, 2, 67, 68, 73. 
Geological divisions, 39-45. 

Museum, 134. 

table, 46. 
Germany, 154 -161. 
Ghatpralha limestone, 262. 
Gibraltar, 181. 

fortress of, 183. 

rock of, 184. 
Giglio," island of , 198. 
Gippsland, 269, 270. 
Girgenti, ruins of, 197. 
Girone, 182. 

Givet limestone, 139, 144, 151, 152, 153. 
Glageon marble, 142. 
Glauconite, or green earth, 44. 
Glen Tilt marble, 135. 
Goa, churches of, 263. 

fort of, 262. 

monasteries of, 263, 
Gobzienne marble, 151. 
Golden Oolite, 260. 
Golo Brdo Mountains, 229. 
Goniatite, 36. 

limestone, 36. 
Gordian Juno, 302. 
Gorgona, island of, 198. 
Gorgonia, 19. 
Gothic cathedrals, 264. 

architecture, 4. 
Gothland corals, 177, 178. 

fossils, 179. 

limestone, 23, 177. 
Grand Calumet, 103. 

Caiion, 95. 

Lama, 253, 

Rapids, gypsum of, 71. 

Trunk Railroad, 49. 
Granite, Antique, 324-327. 

of the Column, 325. 
Granito di Genova, 311, 312. * 

del Sedia, 326. 

Verde, 326. 
Granular quartz, 141. 
Graptolites, 20,41. 
Gratz limestone, 162, 175, 228. 



INDEX. 



379 



Grauwacke, 152, 154, 158. 
Graves of Nations, 243. 
Graviate marble, 187. 
Gray Mountains, 100. 
Great Basin limestone, 100. 
Great Britain, 121-138. 

limestone, 57, 

Oolite, 1 28, 133. 

Pyramid, 5, 274. 

Scaur, 125. 
Greece, 201-212. 

Islands of, 208, 209. 
Greek art, 210-212. 
Greek civilization, 231. 

monasteries, 228, 229, 
Green Mountain serpentines, 49, 50. 
Green sand, 55, 132. 
Gressly, 169. 
Griesbach, 252. 
Griotte marble, 139, 146. 
Griinten, 164, 165. 
Gryphaea, 29. 

beds, 55. 

limestone, 139, 140, 141, 147, 163, 169. 
Gryphee virgules, 29. 
Gualcos marble, 1S2. 
Guadalquiver, valley of the, 183. 
Guelph or Gait limestone, 41, 62. 
Guettard, 142. 
Guiana, 116. 
Gulf of Bothnia, 213. 

Finland, 213, 214. 

Suez, 24. 
Guttenstein Kalk, 156, 176. 
Ghuznee, 253. 



H. 

Haemus Mountains, 229. 
Haftz, the poet, 249. 
Hainault limestone, 152. 
Haiicarnassus, iT^y. 
Hall, 71. 

of the Animals, 335-337. 

Biga, 340. 

Greek Cross, 339. 

Muses, 339. 
Hallstatt, 175, 176. 
Halysites, 23, 41, 
Hamaikotan group, 266. 

metals and rocks, 267. 
Hamilton Palace, 136. 

limestone, 107. 

period, 43. 
Hamites, 36. 
Hanging Rock, 63. 
Hannibal, victory of, 189. 
Hanover, 155 
Haploscapha, 30. 
Harkodate, cliff of, 267. 
Haroun al Raschid, 250, 
Harpa, 2^- 



Harper's Ferry, 58. 

Harper's Tomb, reliefs of, 137. 

Harron, plains of, 242. 

Hartt, 114, 115. 

Hartz Mountains, 157. 

Havana limestone, 108. 

Hawaiian Islands, 21. 

Hayden, 94. 

Headen Hill series, 133. 

Hebrus River, 230. 

Helderberg limestone, 42 et fasstt/i. 

Helix, ^1,, 38. 

Hemicidaris, 130. 

Hempstead County, fossils of, 88. 

Herault, 147. 

Hercyman Forest, 157, 

Hermosillo marble, 130. 

Hermus River, 234, 236. 

Herod the Great, 239. 

Heteropoda, ^t^. 

Herzynienne Jura, 168. 

Hibbert, 126. 

Hieropolis marble, 305, 

High Thor, 125. 

Highlands of the Hudson, 55. 

Hilgard, 82. 

Hill of Ascension, 238. 

Bezetha, 238, 239. 

Bozzan, 243. 

Nummulitic limestone, 257. 

Superga, 186, 189. 
Hils-conglomerate, 132, 156. 
Himalayas, 253, 258. 
Hindoo temples, 264. 
Hippurite, 29, 30. 

limestone, 163 et passim, 
Hircourt marble, 145. 
Hit, bitumen of, 242. 
Hitchcock, 47, 276. 
Hoboken, serpentine of, 55. 
Holland marbles, 154. 
Holy Land, 5, 30. 
Homer, 205, 206, 235, 281, 294. 
Honeycomb coral, 22. 
Hon Hergies, quarries of, 142. 
House of Parliament, 3. 

Representatives, 58. 
Houris of Paradise, 244. 
Hoyoux Hmestone, 151. 
Hudson Bay Territory, 108. 

River limestone, 52, 53. 
Hull, Edmund, 4. 
Human remains, 116. 

implements, 262. 
Humboldt, 112, 117. 

Range, 90, 91. 
Huntsville limestone, 83. 
Huronian rocks, 40, 71, 102. 
Hutton, 271. 
Huy, T51. 
Hyderabad, 256. 
Hydroids, 20, 24, 28. 
Hylea, 34. 
Hyolites, 34. 



380 



INDEX. 



I. 

Iceland, caverns of, lo, 

Iblea limestone, 197. 

Iguanodon, 131. 

Iletsk, escarpments of, 224. 

Ilfracomb limestone, 124. 

Illinois, 67-69. 

Illyria limestone, 175. 

Ilmen Range, 225. 

Image stone, 259. 

Imam Reza, tomb of, 250. 

Immaculate Conception, monument of, 293. 

Imperial baths, 216. 

Index stone, 324. 

India, 254-265. 

fossil remains of, 255, 260 
Indiana, 63-67 
Indian agate, 24, 171, 178. 

Ocean, 21. 

rulers, 263.. 

territory, 95. 
Indusial limestone, 145. 
Inferior Oolite, 128 
Infusoria, 18 
Infusorial beds, 45, 59. 
Inoceramus limestone, 163, 164, 187. 
Ionian Isles, 208. 
Iowa, 72-74. 

Ipplepen limestone, 134. 
Ireland, 125. 
Iron mines of Southofen, 165. 

the Urals, 226. 

manufactures, 226. 
Iron ore of Lake Superior, 40. 

Scandinavia, 177. 
Irving, W., 183, 
Island of ^Egina, 201, 202. 

St. Louis, 279 

Sheppy, septaria of, 35. 

Yesso, 266 
Isle of Cyamus, 230. ■ * 

Man limestone, 135. 
Ispahan, its ruins, 250. 
Istakar, 247. 
Isthmus of Ulst, 220. 
Istria limestone, 175. 
Italy, 184-200 

buildings of, 288. 
Italian art, 190. 

islands, 197-199. 

marbles, 190, 199, 200. 

rocks, age of, 185. 

classes of, 185. 
Ithaca, 208. 
Ives, 94. 
Izium limestone, 218. 



J. 

faar, fossils of the, 156. 
[ackson County limestone, 61 -. 
Jain temples, 263, 264 
famaica Islands, 108, 1 11, 



Jamaica marbles, no. 
James River, fossils of, 59. 
Japan, Empire of, 266-268. 

marbles of, 267. 

shrines and temples of, 267. 
Jasper conglomerates, 262. 

"limestone," 182. 

pebbles, 260. 
Jerusalem, 238, 239. 
Jesalmir limestone, 260. 
Joliet, flagstone of, 69. 
Jordan, valley of the, 238. 
Josephus, 286. 
Joug-aux-Arches, 141. 
Joumard, M., 313, 314. 
Jukes, J, B., 121", 125, 131. 
Julius Caesar, 144, 286, 316, 317. 
Jupiter Ammon, 36 

River, cliffs of the, 106. 
Jura Mountains, 166-169, i^^* 
Jurassic period, 44 et passim, 

dolomites, 162. 

limestones, 128 et passim, 
Jurakalk, 170, 

K. 

Kaimer conglomerate, 259. 

Kakva River limestone, 223. 

Kaladgi, 263. 

Kama River limestone, 214. 

Kamul formation, 259. 

Kandahar limestone and marble, 252. 

Kansas, 88, 89. 

Kara Straits, 222. 

Sou River limestone, 232. 
Kargan, porphyry of, 225. 
Karnak, 273. 

ruins of, 277. 
Kasinof, city of, 215. 
Kaskaskia limestone, 65, 67, 72. 
Kasserum limestone and gypsum, 2\2» 
Kattywar, 260. 
Kazan, city of, 217. 
Keimanshah, sculptures of, 249. 
Kelat, 252, 256. 
Kelloway Rock, 129. 
Kenmare River marble, 136 
Kent Hollovir limestone, 51. 
Kentish Rag, 18, 133 
Kentucky, 78-82. 
Keokuk, 65, 67, 68, 75, 81, 82, %*j, 
Kern River limestone, 99 
Kertch, 233. 
Kircholm Castle, 214. 
Kifir limestone, 243. 
Kilkenny marbles, 24, 135, 
Kinderhook limestone, 67, 68, 75. 
King, surveys of, 90-92 
Kirgil Irmak, 233. 
Kirguiz, steppes of the, 216, 218, 219 

tribes, 220. 
Kirtha formation, 256. 
Kishna, cliffs of, 246, 



INDEX. 



381 



Kleyn Spawen, 158. 
Knobstone formation, 80. 
Koessen beds, 127, 176. 
Kolonma, building-stone of, 215. 
Kranidi, peninsula of, 201. 
Krol formation, 256. 
Kuen Lun, dolomite of the, 253. 
Kunker formation, 254. 
Kurdistan, 241, 244. 



Labradorite, 102, 103. 
Labyrinths, 206, 
Lacedemonian stone, 204. 
Laconia, 329, 
La Cruz limestone, 113. 
La Dalle Nacree, 169. 
Lake Como, 189, 190, 192. 

Copais, 203. 

D'Eseo, 187. 

of the Four Cantons, 165 

George, 53. 

Gygaea, 234. 

Huron, 70, 107. 

Ilmen, 214. 

Maggiore, 191. 

Ontario, 53. 

Peipus, 214, 215. 

Spauta, 250. 

Thrasymene, 189. 

Tuspa, 112. 

Wallenstadt, 164. v 

Winnipeg, 108. 
Laki Range, 256. 
Lamarck, 28. 
Lamellibranchs, 28. 
Lameta limestone, 261. 
Land snails, 33. 
Langres, situation of, 142. 
Languedoc, 142, 146. 
Lapis iEquipondus, 322. 

Amiantus, 321, 322. 

Atracius, 321. 

Augusteus, 320. 

Basinites, 323. 

Hethiopticus, 325. 

Ligusticus, 311, 312. 

Lydius, 324. 

Memphites, 328. 

Ophites, 320. 

Porphyrites, 327. 

Psaronius, 325. 

Syenites, 325, 

Tiberianus, 321. 

Tiburtinus, 6. 
Laterite, 254, 255. 
Latium, 187, 188. 
Laurentian period, 40. 

rocks, 8, 71, 74, 102, 103, 104, 115. 
Lassington stones, 26. 
Lava beds, 233. 
Layard, 7. 
Le Claire limestone, 41, 72, 'j'^. 



Le Conte, 55. 

Leda, or Nucula, 52, 152. 

Leitha limestone, 158, 175, 199, 228 

Mountains, 158. 

River, 175. 
Lemnos, 206. 
Leptaena limestone, 79. 
Lesbos, island of, 285. 

marble of, 208. 

mountains of, 285. 

school of poetry of, 285. 
Levadia, chateau of, 203. 
Lias beds, 130. 

Liassic limestone, 133, 169, 172, 186, 192. 
Libanus or Lebanon Mountains, 236, 237, 
286. 

cedars of, 237. 

marble of, 286. 
Libya, 289. 

Libyan Desert, 272, 275 
Lignite beds, 78. 
Likh Mountains, 221. 
Lily encrinite, 25. 
Lima, 38. 

Lime Island limestone, 50. 
Limerick marble, 135. 
Limestones, classes of, i, 2. 

colors of, 2. 

composition of, 2. 
Limpets, 2>2,- 

Lincoln County limestone, 60. 
Lindstrom, 28. 
Lingula, 27, 28. 
Linth, Escher de, 164, 
Lions of the Capitol, 325, 
Lisbon limestone and marble, 50, 182, 184. 
Lithodomi, 30, 196. 
Lithographic stone, 68, 75, 76, 81, 105, 129, 

157, 203, 216. 
Lithomarge, 311. 
Lithostrotion, 22, 81. 

limestone, 81. 
Litorina, 33. 

Litorinella limestone, 158. 
Lits coquillier, 33. 
Little Red River limestone, ^ij. 
Littleton limestone, 50. 
Lizard Point, serpentine of, 136. 
Llano Estacado Mountains, 85. 

de Tarqui limestone, 116, 117 
Loess formation, 85, 227. 

fossils of, 85. 
London Basin, 4. 
Loo Choo Islands, reefs of the, 2. 

gems and metals of the, 268. 
Louisiana, 84, 85. 
Louvre, 5, 205. 
Lucca, 186. 
Lucas Petus, 322. 
Lucian, 320. 
Lucina, 31, 38. ' 
L. LucuUus, 290. 
Ludlow, 123. 
Lumachella, 301. 

d' Astracane, 302, 303. 



382 



INDEX. 



Lumachella Bianca Antica, 301 

bigia, 304. 

Dorata, 303. 

d'Egitto, 302. 

gialla, 304. 

pavonazza, 304. 

rosa, 303. 

rosea, 303. 
Lumachellone antico, 303. 
Lumachelles, 140, 141, 145. 

k paludines, 131. 
Lund, 116. 

Luxembourg limestone, 153. 
Lychnites, 281. 
Lydia, kings of, 234. 
Lyell, 17, 55> 84, 122, 123, 130, 131, 14I 

156, 167, 197. 
Lymnia, 22, 38. 

M. 

Macigno, 188, 189 
McAndrew, 22. 
McMullen, 103. 
Maclurea, 33. 

limestone, 76, 122. 
Mactra, 38. 

Madden, silver mines of, 232. 
Maderno, 349, 
Madin, its celebrity, 244. 
Madras, 260. 
Madrepore, 22, 23. 

marble, loS, 134, 198. 
Madrid, 182, 184. 
Madura limestone, 271. 
Maestricht beds, 36, 156. 
Magellan, 118. 

Magnesian limestone, 3, 54 et passim. 
Mahmud, tomb of, 253. 
Mahratta forts, 262. 
Maine, 51, 52. 
Maiwand Pass, 253. 
Majada R^^nge, 114. 
Majolica, 186, 187. 
Malachite, 100, 222. 
Malaga, 182. 
Malmo group, 178. 
Malprabha River, 262. 
Malta, 199, 208, 236. 
Malvern Hills, 123. 
Mammals, bones of, 166, 219. 
Mantell, 22, 26, 125, 155. 
Manx marble, 135. 
Marathon, 202. 
Marbaix marble, 144. 
Marbles, antique colored, 288-312. 

white, 280-288. 

ancient quarries of, 280. 

of Austria, see Appendix 

France, " " 

Germany, " " 

Great Britain, " 

Greece, « " 

Italy, « " 



Marbles of Scandinavia, see Appendix. 
Marbles of Switzerland, " " 

Marbles of the United States : 

Alabama, 83. 

Arkansas, 87, 88. 

Athens, 68, 69. 

Baalbec, 64. 

Baltimore, 58. 

Brandon, 48. 

Burnet, 85. 

Cape Girardeau, 69, 74. 

Carolina, 60. 

Cooper, 75. 

Delaware, 58. 

Dover, 53. 

Eolian, 47, 49. 

Glen's Falls, 53. 

Green Mountains, 47-49. 

Isle la Motte, 47-49, 53. 

Iowa, "jy 

Kansas, %Z. 

Kentucky, "j"], 79, 8i. 

Kingsbridge, 53. 

Lake George, 53. 

Lake Ontario, 53. 

Maine, 51, 52. 

Maryland, 58. 

Missouri, 74, 75. 

Murchisonia, 79. 

New York, 52. 

Nevada, 90. 

North Adams, 49. 

New Jersey, 55. 

Onondagaf 53. 

Owen's Mouniains, 100. 

Potomac, 57, 58. 

St. Landry, 84. 

St. Louis, 67. 

Suisun, 100. 

Tennessee, 76-78. 

Texas, 86, 

Virginia, 49. 
Marble beds, 74, 75, ']6. 

Caiion, 96. 

Hill, 81. 

" Menagerie," 335. 

of Mosul, 242, 243. 

Mountain, 54, 100. 

Valley, 100. 
Marcus Lepidus, 289. 
Maremma Mountains, 188. 
Marmo Africano, 294, 295. 

Bianco Antico, 298, 299. 

e Giallo, 297. 

e Nero, 299. 

Bigio Antico, 298. 

Morato, 290. 

Broccatello Antico, 301. 

di Carrara, 286, 287. 

Cipollino, 291, 292. 

di Cotanello, 300, 301. 

Fior di Persico, 296. 

Giallo Antico, 289, 290. 

e Nero, 300. 

Tigrato, 297. 



INDEX. 



383 



Marmo Greco Duro, 280-282. 

Greco Fino, 283. 

Giallognolo, 285. 

Livido, 284, 283. 

Grechetto Duro, 282, 283. 

Imezio, or Cipollo, 284. 

Nero Antico, 296. 

Occhio di Pernice, 300. 

Palombino, 287, 288. 

Pavonazzetto, 293, 294. 

Porta Santa, 291. 

Rosso Antico, 295, 296. 

Turchiniccio, 285, 286. 

Verde Antico, 321. 

Verde Ranocchia, 320, 321. 
Marmor Argillosus, 310, 311. 

Bathium, 298. 

Carystium, 291-293. 

Celticum, 299. 

Cliium, 294, 295. 

Coraliticum, 287, 288. 

Corinthium, 297. 

Hymettus, 284. 

lassense, 291. 

Lesbium, 285. 

Liiculleum, 290. 

Lunense, 286. 

Lydium, 305. 

Megarense, 301 

Molossiiim, 296. 

Numidicum, 289 

Parium, 280-282 

Pentelicum, 283, 284. 

Phen^ite, 297. 

Porinum, 282. 

Proconnesium, 298. 

Rhodium, 300. 

Schistos, 301. 

Synadicum, 293. 

Taenarium, 296 

Tauromenium, 312. 

Tyrium. 285. 
Marsupites, 132. 
Maryland, 57, 58, 
Masahua Range, 114. 
Massa marble, 192. 
Matlock Dale, 125. 
Maulmain limestone, 259 
Mausoleum at Frogmore, 184. 

of Hadrian, 293. 
Mausolus, tomb of, 137, 299 
Mauvaises Terres, 45, 95. 
Maxwell limestone, 63 
Mayville limestone, 72. 
Mazatlan limestone, 112. 
Meandi-ina, 23. 
Mechlenburg, marble, 35. 
Medlseval architecture, 133. 
Mediterranean limestone, 199, 236. 

early, 220. 

fauna of the, 22. 
Medlicott, 257, 258. 
Medusa, head of, 161. 
Megaris, 301. 
Melania, ;^t„ 38. 



Melanopsis, 131. 

Melaphyres, 157. 

Melo, island of, 205. 

Mendip Hills, 23. 

Mendota limestone, 72. 

Meniscus limestone, 41, 78. 

Menominee iron region, 69. 

Mesozoic era, 44 

Metamorphism, 9. 

Meuse River, 141, 153. 

Meuthe, 143. 

Mexico, 1 1 2-1 14. 

Michael Angelo, 193. 

Michigan, 69-71. 

Middle Ages, 239. 

Miemite, 189. 

Milan cathedral, 191, 192. 

Miliolite, 139, 149, 260. 

Millepores, 20. 

Millstone grit, 86, 87. 

Milton, 123. 

Mingan Islands, 106. 

Minnesota, 71. 

Miocene, 45 et passbn. 

Mischio marble, 193, 194. 

Mississippi Basin, 62 et passim 

River, 29, " " 

State, 82, 83. 
Missouri, 74-76. 
Mittlequader, 132. 
Mochwynog palace, 122. 
Modiola, 130. ■* 

Moen limestone, 177. 
Mogul Empire, 253. 
Molasse, 139, 149. 

of Thessaly, 230. 
Moldau limestone, 173. 
Molluscoidea, 27-37. 
Molossi, 296. 

Monastery of Arghaneh, 232, 233. 
Mongolia, quartz of, 227. 
Montalban period, 40. 
Montbard, 142. 
Montmartre quarries, 7. 
Montmorency River, 40. 
Montreal limestone, 104, 105. 
Moors, 8, 183. 
Moorish architecture, 183. 

kings, 182. 
Morocco limestone, 278. 
Moscow, or White limestone, 215, 216, 22^ 
Mososaurus, 156 
Mosul, churches of, 244. 

plain of, 242. 
Mound limestone, 72. 
Mountain limestone, 124-126. 
Mount Abu, 264. 

Alaghez, 221. 

Altissimo, 194. 

Amiata, 195. 

Ararat, 221. 

Auxois, 144, 145. 

Blagodat, 222. 

Blanc, 163. 

Bolca, 196, 197. 



3^4 



INDEX. 



Mount Bonpland, go. 

Can dido, 192. 

Celio, 330 

Cenis, 163. 

Chaumont, 149. 

Citheron, 202. 

Crestola, 200 

Cyllene, 201 

Diablo, 96-98. 

Donon, sculptures of, 143. 

Eolus, 47. 

Etna, 184. 

Gargano, 187 

Hamilton, jaspers of, 96. 

Helicon, 203. 

Hymettus, 283. 

Horeb, 241. 

Ida, 205, 288. 

of Idols, 224. 

Lycabettus, 204, 283. 

Malbe, 188. 

Mapressa, quarries of, 281 

Massi, 186 

Meudon, 149. 

Moriah, 239. 

Negoi, 176. 

Ocha, 291. 

Olympus, 230, 231, 236, 293 

Ossa, 230, 

Palinaeus, 294. 

Parnassus, 202, 203, 207. 

Parnes, 283. 

Pentelicus, 136, 204, 283. 

Pilatus, 163. 

Pisani, 192. 

Porphyrites, 327. 

Righi, 164. 

Sagro, 200. 

Seleve, 170, 171. 

Shaster, 98 

Sinai, 241. 

Spiglas, 236. 

Tabor, 237. 

Taygetus, 202, 204, 296, 329. 

Tmolus, 234, 305. 

Tyndall, 98. 

Valerian, 149. 

Whitney, 98. 

Zion, 239. 
Mumbles marble, 135, 
Mummies, the oldest, 173. 
Mummius, 298. 
Munich, gallery of, 282. 
Murchison, 121, 124, 163, 164,186, 

213. 
Murendel River, 269. 
Murex, 32 

Muscula limestone, 113. 
Muschelkalk, 155 et passim. 
Muscovy glass, 118. 
Museum of the Capitol, 345, 346. 

Kircheriano, 345. 

of Liverpool, 138. 

the Vatican, 331-345. 
Mussulband, 30. 



[89, 197, 



Mycene, ruins of, 208, 209. 
Mylasia buildings of, 288. 

marble of, 288. 
Myrtilus, 30, 
Myron, ^'i^'j. 
Mythen, 164, 165, 172, 187. 



N. 



Nadir Shah, 250. 

Nagelfluhe, 158, 166. 

Naha River, 159. 

Nahan grovip, 257. 

Namur limestone and marble, 152, 153, 154. 

Nancy marble, 142, 143. 

Nantes, 148. 

Naples, buildings of, 6. 

Napoleonite, or diorite, 199. 

Nari limestone, 256. 

Narva, castle of the, 214. 

Nashville group, 75. 

Nassa, 32. 

Natica, 38. 

National capital, 58, 'jy. 

Natron Lakes, 272. 

Natural bas-reliefs, 195. 

monuments, 93. 
Nautilus, 34, 36. 

Daniscus, 177. 
Nauvoo, 68. 
Nave encrinite, 26. 
Naxos, 207, 209. 
Naxuana, 221. 
Nebraska, 88. 
Neocomian, name, 132, 170. 

limestone, 164, 170, 171, 229. 
Nephrite, 322. 
Nerbudda fossils, 260. 
Nerinaea, 32, y^. 

Nerinaean limestone, 129, 158, 170. 
Nerita, 19, 38. 
Neritma, 33. ' 
Netherlands, 154. 
Nevada, 90, 92. 
Newbery, 94. 

Newburyport limestone, 49. 
Newport conglomerate, 50. 
New Almaden mines, 97 

England, 47-52. 

Grenada, 117. 

Guinea, 271. 

Hampshire, 50. 

Haven, 51. 

Jersey, 54-57. 

Leavenworth, 88. 

Mexico, 94, 95. 

Red Sandstone, 127. 

Russias, 216. 

Siberia, fossils of, 179. 

York, 52-54. 

Zealand, 270, 271. 
Niagara period, 41. 

limestone, 41 et passim. 
Nibby, 329. 



INDEX. 



385 



Nicholson, 28, 30. 
Nijni Novgorod, 217. 
Nineveh, remains of, 242-244. 
Niobrara group, 30. 
Niphon, or Hondo, 266, 267. 
Nordenskiold, 180. 
Norian period, 40. 
Normandy, 35, 140. 
North Carolina, 60. 

East Cape, 179. 

Vernon stone, 64. 
Norway, 178. 

Nottingham limestone, 125. 
Nova Zembla, 221. 
Nullipores, 20. 
Numidia, quarries of, 138. 
Nummulite, 19. 

limestone, 139 et passim. 



o. 

Ober stein, 159. 

Obolella, 28. 

Obolus, 28. 

Occhio di Pavone, 188, 304. 

Ochre, 88, 100. 

Odessa, 219. 

CEningen beds, 165, 166. 

Ohio, 62, 63. 

Falls limestone, 43. ' 
Oil wells, 43. 

Trough Ridge, 87. 
Oka River, 215, 217. 
Okifinokee Swamp, 61. 
Old Quarry stone, 54. 

Red Sandstone, 124. 
Oliva, 32. 
Olmutz, 174. 
Olympia, 160, 283, 285. 
Onyx marble, 7, 113, 117, 2']']. 
Oolitic limestone, 133 et passim. 
Ophiolyte, 8, 49, 195. 
Opus Alexandrinum, 329, 
Oran limestone, 278. 
Orange sand, 61, 82, 83, 85, 88. 
Orbitoides, 45. 

limestone, 61, 83, 84. 
Orchomenus, 209. 
Oregon, loi. 
Orel, 215. 

Orenburg, 216, 217. 
Orfa, or Edessa, 241. 
Organ-pipe coral, 24. 
Oriskany, 42, 61, 62, 
Ormuz, island of, 246. 

limestone of, 245. 

Straits of, 245. 
Orsk, stones of, 225. 
Orthis, 28. 
Orthoceratite, 35. 

limestone, 106, 122, 177, 178, 213. 
Osaka, castle of, 266. 
Ostrea, 29. 
Othrada limestone, 215 



Ottawa, 103, 105. 
Ovid, 324. 
Ovula, 38. 

Owen, 86, 71, 72, 79, ^ 

Owen's Mount, 100. 
Owl's Head limestone, 51. 
Oxford collection, 304, 318, 326. 
serpentine, 50. 

P. 

Pacific Coast, 90-101. 
Palace of Ahasueras, 329. 

Alcaza, 182. 

Altemps, 318. 

the Conservatori, 310. 

Nebuchadnezzar, 244. 

the Pasha, 276. 

Pilate, 286. 

Sciarra-Colonna, 314. 

Sennacherib, 7, 138. 

Ulysses, 208. 
Palatine Hill, 329. 
Pagoda, largest in India, 260. 
Paleolithic age, 152. 
Paleozoic era, 40. 

limestone, 59 et passim. 
Palermo, 198. 
Palestine, caverns of, 238. 

limestones of, 238. 

ruins of, 239. 
Palladio, A., 190. 
Palmyra, ruins of, 240. 
Palombara, ruins of, 319. 
Paludina, 33, 38. 

limestone, 158. 
Pampas, 116, 117. 
Pamphylia, plain of, 236. 
Panchina, 189. 
Panchola, ruins of, 264. 
Pandora, 38. 
Panno di Morti, 190. 
Pappenheim limestone, 112. 
Para beds, 257, 
Paragone, 190. 
Parian Chronicles, 282. 
Paris, 5. 

Basin, 38, 148-150. 

Exposition, 150, 154. 

plaster of, 7, 149. 
Parkinson, 23, 26, t^Z- 
Parma limestone, 186. 
Paros, island of, 281. 

quarries of, 205. 
Parthenon, 136, 137. 
Parthian Empire, 243. 
Parsagardae, 248. 
Patagonia, 119. 
Paul III., monument of, 300. 
Pausanias, 160, 283, 285, 329. 
Pear encrinite, 25. 
Pecten, 30. 

beds, 199. 
Pegu, fossil-wood of, 259. 



386 



INDEX. 



Peking, minerals of, 227. 
Pelevo Hills, 98. 
Penarth beds, 127. 
Pence's. Ranch limestone, 99. 
Peneus River, 230. 
Pennsylvania, 55-57. 
Penrhyn Castle, 121. 

slates, 122. 
Pentamerus, 28. 

limestone, 42, 54, 178, 213. 
Pentacrinite, 26. 
Pentremite, 26. 

Pentremital limestone, 67, 72, 81. 
Peperino, 6. 
Percival, 51. 
Pergamos, 160, 161. 
Pericles, 2, 83, 210. 
Perim, island of, 246. 

remains of, 246. 
Permian period, 43. 

limestones, 44, 127, 155, 216. 
Perna, 30, 38. 
Persepolis, inscriptions of, 248. 

ruins of, 247, 248. 
Persia, 246-251. 
Peru, mounds of, 117. 
Peshanker, minerals of, 223. 
Petchora, 224. 
Peter's Gate limestone, 222. 
Petit-Bois, M,, 231. 
Petit Granit, 144, 152. 
Peth stone, 54. 
Petra, ruins of, 241. 
Pharaohs, kingdom of the, 275. 
Phoenicians, 2S5. 
Philadelphia, ancient, 233. 
Phillips, 131. 
Pholas, 30, 38. 
Phrygia, 233, 234, 293. 
Physa, 33. 
Piana River, 217. 
Piava River, 176. 
Piazza Colonna, 291. 

di Venezia, 324. 
Piedmont, serpentine of, 195, 321 
Pierre Poros, 202. 

Rouge, 141. 

du Serpentine, 141. 
Piers Ploughman, 123. 
Pietra-forte, 189. 

morte, 189. 

Romana, 327. 
Pinkerton, 118, 281. 
Pinega River gypsum, 217. 
Pinna, 30. 
Pisa, 189, 192. 
Piraeus, 203, 204. 
Pisolitique, 132, 139. 
Pittsburg limestone, 44, 57. 

glass-works, 69. 
Pius VI., 320, 
Placer-mining, 99. 
Placer County limestone, 100. 
Plaister Cove marbles, 107. 
Planctae, 230. 



Planad limestone, 259. 
Planerkalk, 154, 156, 172 
Planorbis, 23, 3^- 
Plataea, 202. 
Platten dolomite, 155. 
Pleistocene epoch, 132. 

remains, 79. 
Pleta limestone, 177,213, 214. 
Pleurotoma, 38. 
Pleurotomaria, 38. 
Pliny, 204 et passim. 
Pliocone epoch, 45. 
Plutonic process, 9. 
Plymouth limestone, 124, 134. 

marble, 47, 48. 
Point Delane, fossils of, 70. 

Levis, 105, 106. 
Poland, sovereigns of, 218. 
Polar Regions, 179, 180. | 

Polsevera green. 190, 191. 
Polycletus, 137,' 211. 
Polynesian Seas, 21. 
Polyps, 19, 20. 
Polythalamia, 179, 273. 
Polyzoans, 27. 
Pompeii, 6. 
Pond snails, 33. 
Pondicherry, 260. 
Pool of Siloam, 239. 
Porfido nero, 328. 

rosso, 328. 

verde, 328. 
Porifera, 18. 
Poros marbles, 202. 
Porphyry, Antique, 276, 277, 327. 

of du Genii, 278. 

Snow^y River, 269. 
Porta Praya limestone, 279. 
Port Hudson group, 85. 

Royal Parish, 109. 

St. Julian, shells of, 119. 
Poitiers, 147. 
Portland, 129. 

stone, 4, 129, 169, 170, 270. 

screw, 32, 129, 
Poitugal, 181. 
Poseidon, torso of, 161. 
Posidonomya, 31. 
Post Tertiaty, 97, 99. 
Potsdam limestone, 85. 
Potsoy serpentine, 136. 
Powell, 94. 

Prague, buildings of, 1 73. 
Praxiteles, 211, 283, 327, 339, 345. 
Predazzit, 176. 
Pre-historic cities, 207. 
" Pre-Meridian " limestone, 57. 
Prime, 237. 
Primordial Zone, 173. 
Producta, 28. 

limestone, 87, 126, 179. 
Proliferous madrepores, 23. 
Prome, fossil wood of, 259. 
Prosopyre, 195. 
Protococcus, 180. 



INDEX. 



387 



Protozoans, 18. 
Provence, 146. 
Pseudomorphs, 8. 
Pteropods, 31, 33, 34. 
Pterocera, 32. 
Pupa, 33. 
Pupura, 32. 
Purbeck Isle, 129. 

formation, 130. 
Pozzuoli, 196. 

Put-in-Bay Islands, galleries of, 62. 
Pyramids, 5, 274. 

of Australia, 269. 
Pyramid of Caius Cestus, 285. 

Lake, 92. 
Pyrenees, 139, 146, 181. 



Q- 

Quarry of Polvaccio, 193. 

stone, 54. 
Quartz crystals, 267. 
Quaternary period, 44. 

breccia, 271. 
Quebec group, 20, 104, 105. 

limestone, 76, 93. 
Queensland, 270. 
Quincy limestone, 68. 
Quirinal Palace, 6. 
Quito marbles, 116. 



R. 

Racine beds, -jz. 
Radiates, 18, 19, 24. 
Radiolites, 29, 30. 
Raibel marble, 176. 
Ranee marble, 151. 
Raphael, 193, 352. 
Rapidan limestone, 59. 
Ratisbon limestone, 157. 
Rauch-wacke, 158, 166. 

grauer kalkstein, 168. 
Raymehal Hills, 255. 
Receptaculite, 19. 

limestone, 74. 
Red Ammonite, 163. 

Beds, 95. 

Bluff, 83. 

Crag, 32, 133. 

Hill, 278. 

Mountain, 275. 
Red Sea, bed of, 21. 

fauna of, 22. 

islands of, 277. 

gypsums, limestone, and marbles of, 
272, 276. 

sandstone, 55. 

snow, 98, 180. 
Reed, 266. 



Regur, 254, 

Remains in Greece, 209. 

Remond, A., 113. 

Rennes, 149. 

Retepora, 27. 

Rhenish Provinces, 156, 157, 165. 

Rhaetic beds, 30, 127. 

limestone, 176. 
Rhine, ruins on the, 158. 
Rhizopods, 18, 19. 
Rhode Island, 50. 
Rhodes, 207, 300. 

Colossi of, 300. 
Rhomboidal limestone, 75. 
Rhone River, 140. 
Rhynchonella, 28. 

beds, 158. 
Rhyncholites, 34. 
Ribbon limestone, 54. 
" Rice stones," 227. 
Ripley group, 82. 
Rocks, age of, 39. 

how studied, 39. 

dwellings among the, 221. 
Rocky Mountains, 43, 47. 

region, 44, 90-92. 
Rodope Mountains, 229. 
Roemer, 158. 
Rogers, H. D., 56. 

W. B, 59. 
Roma Vecchia, ruins of, 309. 
Roman aqueducts, 159, 182. 

cities, 288. 

Empire, 288. 

Forum, 292. 
Rome, city of, 190. 

antique columns in, 280. 

Custom House of, 287. 

Decorative Stones of, 289. 
Rominger, 71. 
Room of the Animals, 318. 

Dying Gaul, 308, 309, 318. 

Vases, 325. 
Rosewood marble, 134. 
Rospigliosi, 296. 
Ro^so Levantino, 171. 
Rostellaria, 32, 38. 
Rothliegende, 155, 158. 
Rotten limestone, 44', 78, 82, 84. 
Rouge River marble, 103. 
Roumel River, 277. 
Roxbury serpentine, 50. 
Ruby mines, 259. 
Rudistes, 28, 29, 30. 

Zone of the, 171. 
Rugosa, 28. 
Ruin marble, 7. 
Ruined City, 97. 

castles, 158. 
Run jet Singh, 257, 
Rupelian system, 152. 
Russia, 213-226. 

coal region of, 216. 
Rutland marbles, 48. 



3^8 



INDEX. 



S. 

Saale River, 157. 
Sabine Bayou, 85. 

Mountains, 187. 
Saccharoidal structure, i. 
Saccocoma, 26. 

Sacred \\'ay, Lions of the, 137. 
Sadi, the poet, 249. 
Safford, "]-]. 
Salisbury tract, 58. 
Saint Anne marbles, 142, 148. 

Antonio, church of, no. 

Cassian beds, 127, 162, 175, 176. 

Croix, trap of the, 71, 

Francis, chalk of the, 88. 

Helena, 279. 

Lawrence, 104, 105. 

Loretta, conglomerate of, 158. 

Louis group, 75, %i^. 
limestone, 64, 72, 81. 

Loup, hermitage of, 147. 

Paul's cathedral, 129. 

Peter's " 6, 190. 
River, 72. 
Sandstone, 69. 

Reine, fountain of, 145. 

Stephen's bluff, 84. 

Vincent's Rock, 24, 135. 
Sala Regia, 339, 340. 
Salonica limestone, 229. 
Salt beds, 272. 

mines, 217. 

Range, 255, 256. 

springs, 218. . . 

Samaria, 239, 240. 
Sambre, valley of the, 153. 
Samos, 207. 
San Antonio Hills, 98. 

Fernando, 118. 

Fillippo, 195. 

Luis Range, 98. 

Michel, serpentine of, 195. 

Saba County, 85, 86. 
Sandalwood Island, 271. 
Sandusky limestone, 63. 
Sandwich Islands, in. 
Santa Capella, 329. 

Cruz, 97. 

Fe INIountains, 95. 
Santee limestone, 60. 
Santiago marble, 279. 
Santorin, 206, 207. 
Saracens, battle of the, 147. 
Sardinia, 24, 198. 
Sardis, 234. 

Sassanian kings, 248, 249. 
Sassi di Simone, 188. 

Ranch, 175, 
Satin spar, 6. 
Saurians, 92, 145. 
Saxicava, 38. 
Saxon j^, 156, 157. 
Scarabae, 277. 
Scaglia, 163, 187, 208, 



Scala Santa, 286. 
Scalaria, 38. 
Scandinavia, 177, 178. 
Schiller -rock, 157, 
Schliemann, 208, 234. 
Schuylkill, valley of the, 56. 
S chyle River, 174. 
Scopas, 212, 283, 284. 
Scotland, 126, 135. 
Scyros marble, 305. 
Sea-anemone, 20. 

lilies, 25, 26. 

urchins, 26. 
Sea of Marmora, 229, 231. 

Tiberias, 237. 
Secondary era, 46. 
Sedan, citadel of, 141. 
Segontium, 122. 
Seine, valley of the, 147. 

table-land of the, 145. 
Selberg castle, 214. 
Selenite, 7. 
Selucia, ruins of, 243. 
Semiramis, 249. 
Seneca limestone, 53. 
Serat limestone, 261. 
Serpentine, 8. 

antique, 320-322. 

Laurentian, 103. 

of France, 149. 

of Great Britain, 136. 

of the Green Mountains, 49. 

of Italy, 194, 195,311. 

of Spain, 183. 

of Sparta, 329. 

of Staten Island, 54, 55. 

of Sweden, 1 78. 
Serpula, yj. 

Serpulite limestone, 156. 
Serravezza marble, 192. 
Servia limestone, 228. 
Seville, buildings of, 182. 
Sewer-kalk, 164, 165. 
Shah Jehan, 265. 

Maksud Range, 252. 
Shaler, 82. 

Shan States, rubies of the, 269. 
Shapoor, 249. 
Shapur, passage of, 242. 
Sharon, plains of, 238. 
Shat el Arab, 243. 
Shawnee limestone, 63. 
Shelby County limestone, 80. 
Shell-heaps, 117. 

marbles, 304. 
Shingle, 119. 
Shiraz, 246, 249. 
Shireen, 249. 
Shufeldt, R. W., 144. 
Siberia, 225, 226. 
Sicilian Jasper, 312. 
Sicily, decorative stones of, 30, 197, 312. 

table-land of, 197, 198. 
Sidonian marble, 286. 
Siena marble, 188, 192. 



INDEX. 



389 



Sierra Morena, 181. 

Nevada, 98-100, 183. 
Silberloch, 170. 
Silisia limestone, 158. 
Silures, 121, 122. 
Silurian, 40 et passim. 
Simla, 256. 
Simsk marble, 225. 
Sind, 233, 256. 

Sink holes, 61, 62, S"], 80, 269. 
Siwalik group, 257, 258. 
Slates, 157. 
Smith, E. A., 61. 
Smoky River, 155. 
Smyrna, 235, 236. 
Snowdon, 122. 

Sok, escarpments of the, 216. 
Solarium, 33. 
Solen, 38. 

Solenhofen, 8r, 129, 157, 158, 216. 
Solium, 38. 

Somersetshire marbles, 134. 
Sonora marble, 100. 
Sorrento, 188. 
South America, 114-119. 

Carolina, 60. , , . 
Spain, 181, 184. 
Sparta, 329. 

Spartanburg marble, 60. 
Spatangus limestone, 163, 
Spezia, 188, 192. 

Gulf of, 186. 
Spezzia, island of, 201. 
Spherulites, 29, 30. 
Sphinxes, 273. 
Spider's stone, 23. 
Spirifer, 27. 

Mosquensis, 215, 224, 225. 

limestone, see Delthyris. 
Spirula, 35. 
Spitzbergen, 179. 
Sponges, 18. 
Sporades, 207. 
Springfield limestone, 62. 
Sprudelstone, 174. 
Staffordshire marbles, 134. 
Stalactites and stalagmites, 10, il, 45 
Standia marble, 207. 
Star City, 92. 
Statins, 28S, 320. 
Statue of an Amazon, 283. 

of Annius Verus, 287. 

the Apollo Belvedere, 191, 282. 

Cytharsedus, 283. 

Ariadne, 282, 

a Bacchante, 284. 

Commodus, 284. 

Diana Lucifera, 284. 

Euripides, 285. 

Hadrian, 285. 

Julia, 285. 

Laocoon, 284. 

Meleager, 284. 

Memnon, 273. ' 

Menander, 284. 



Statue of Mercury Belvedere, 282. 

Minerva Medica, 282. 

Posidippus, 284. 

Venus, 282. 

Anadyomene, 284. 

of the Capitol, 285. 

of the Young Augustus, 284. 
Steeple Ashton, 23. 
Stellaria, 304. 

Stelvio, passage of the, 190. 
Steppe limestone, 219-221. 
Stevensklint, 177. 
Stina voi, 223. 

Stockbridge limestone, 47, 49. 
Stone of Bilin, 173. 
Stonesfield slate, 128. 
Strabo, 198, 248 et passim. 
Strata, classification of, 39. 
Strathdon marble, 135. 
Stingocephalus, 27. 

limestone, 151, 152. 
Stromatopora, 24. 
Strombus, 32, 38. 
Strophomena, 28. 
Stuma River, 229. 
Stylotites, 41. 
Styria limestone, 175. 
Subcarboniferous, 43 et passim. 
Sub-Apennines, 185, 187. 

Himalayas, 258. 

kingdoms, 18. 
Subiaco Mountains, 187. 
Sudetic Mountains, 174. 
Suess, 28. 

Sugomac marble, 224. 
Sulphur mines, 243. 
Sultan Mahmud, 264. 
Sumatra, 271. 
Sumbawa, 271. 
" Surgent " limestone, 57. 
Susquehanna limestone, 56. 
Sussex marble, 131. 
Sutherland's Falls marble, 48. 
Sutton quarry, 231. 
Sweden, 177, 178. 
Switzerland, 162-171. 
Syene, quarries of, 273, 325. 
Syenite, 241, 273, 325. 
Sylva River, 222. 
Syme, 207. 
Symplegades, 230. 
Syracuse, serpentine of, 54. 

siege of, 198. » 

temples of, 197. 
Syria, 232, 236, 239. 
Syringopora, 24. 
Syros marble, 207. 



Table Mountain, 99. 

of strata, 46. 
Tabreez marble, 250, 251, 276,- 315. 
Taconian period, 40. 



390 



INDEX. 



Taconic slates, 60. 
Taganrog, 219. 
Tagus River, 182. 
Talikot limestone, 262. 
Talladega, 83. 
Taman peninsula, 220. 
Tamerlane, 244. 
Taormina marble, 312. 
Tarifa light-house, 183. 

table-land, 114. 
Tarragone marble, 182. 
Tarsus, 236, 293. 
Tartars, 223. 
Taspiania, 271. 
Tauk e Bostam, 249, 
Taurus Mountains, 232. 
Tchussovaya River, 2i4,'222. 
Teheran, 246. 
Tehuantepec, 114. 
The Golden Horn, 230. 
Tell's Chapel, 165. 
Teling limestone, 257. 
Tellina, 38. 
Temescal Range, 100. 
Temple of ^sculapius, T37. 

Antoninus and Faustina, 292. 
Pius; 287. 

Apollo Epicurius, 137. 

Cala, 264. 

Delphi, 282. 

Diana, 137, 235, 288. 

Fortune, 297. 

Jerusalem, 238, 286, 314. 

Juno, 293. 

Jupiter, 293. 
Carius, 288. 
Marmarius, 292. 
Olympus, 198, 283, 285. 
Serapis, 30. 

Minerva Polias, 137. 

Nargarcot, 264. 

Nemesis, 137. 

Neptune, 292. 

Peace, 322. 

Paestum, 6. 

Somnat, 264, 295. 

the Sybil, 6. 

Tokugawa, 268. 

Vesta, 6. 
Temples of Buddhists, 268. 

Dendera, 273. 

Ise, 268. 

Karnak, 273. 

Luxor, 273. 

the Shintos, 268. 
Tenessarim, 258. 
Tennessee, 76-78. 
Tenos marble, 207. 
Tentaculite, 34. 

limestone, 42, 107. 
Terebra, 38. 
Terebratula, 27. 

limestone, 156. 
Teredina, 38. 
Terni, springs of, 195. 



Terrace plains, 138. 
Terraine conchylien, 168, 169. 
Territories, 94-96. 
Tertiary, 44, 45 et passim. 
Testacea, 152. 
Texas, 85, 86. 

Flat, travertine of, 99. 
Thames limestone, 107. 
Thasian marble, 284, 285. 
Thasos, island of, 284. 
Thebais, 320. 
Thebes, 202. 

antiquities of, 316. 

tombs of, 274. 
Theca, 34. 

Thera, island of, 207. 
Thessaly, 229, 230. 
Theux marble, 151. 
Thibet, 253. 

Thomaston limestone, 51. 
ThonoHte, 92. 
Thrace, 228. 

Throne of Mithradates, 219. 
Thuringian Forest, 157. 
Tiber, valley of the, 1 89. 
Tierra del Fuego, 118. 
Tigrato marble, 252. 
Tigris, conglomerate of, 242. 

serpentine of, 232. 
Timan Range, 213, 224. 
Tiree marble, 135. 
Tiryns, ruins 0^ 208. 
Tivoli, 195, 250, 251. 
Toledo, 181. 
Tomb of Petrarch, 191. 

Zechariah, 239. 
Tombs of the Judges, 239. 

Kings, 239. 
Tomsk, 225. 
Torso of Hercules, 283. 
Toul, cathedral of, 143. 
Tournai, 151, 152. 
Tosca, 116, 118. 
Towner of London, 141. 
Trajan's Forum, 325. 
Travertine, 4, 6,45, 54, 105, 196. 
Transylvania, 174. 

madrepores, 23. 
Travancore, 263. 
Trenton limestone, 40 et passim. 
Trias, or Triassic, 93 " " 
Trichinopoly, 260. 
Trigonia, 28. 
Trilobites, 41. 
Tripoli, 37. 

rocks of, 278. 
Trochites, 25. 
Trochus, 38. 
Trojan marble, 288. 
Trophon, 32. 

Troy, ruins of 234, 235, 281, 288. 
Tufa, 114, 159, 198, 262. 

Domes, 92. 

marble, 278. 
Tubipore, Tubiporite, 22, 23. 



INDEX. 



391 



TuUy limestone, 53. 
Tunis, 278. 
Turbo, 83. 
Turcomans, 220. 
Turginsk, mines of, 223. 
Turin, hills of, 186. 
Turkistan, 253. 
Turkish Empire, 228-244. 
Turquoise mines, 251. 
Turrilites, 36. 
Turritella, 38. 

limestone, 82. 
Tuscan Springs, 98. 
Tuscany, alberese of, 188. 

limestone and marble of, 185, 187. 

mountains of, 195. 
Tyrian dye, 32. 
Tyre, 239. 
Tyrol, 162, 163, 174, 176. 



u.. 

Uinta Range, 91, 

Umbria, valley of, 187. 

Unio, 30. 

Union Pacific Railroad, 99. 

United States, 47-101. 

Univalves, 38. 

Ur of the Chaldees, 241. 

Urals, 221-226. 

gems and minerals of, 226. 

limestone and marbles of, 224. 
Uralskaga, 225. 
Uruguay, 119. 
Urumiah, 250. 
Use of the Arch, 209. 
Utarta limestone, 260. 
Utah, 92. 
Ute Pogonip, 91. 
Utica limestone, 76, 104. 



Valdai Hills, 214. 
Vale of Tempe, 230. 
Varenna marble, 190. 
Vaugerard, quarries of, 149. 
Vatican Library, 304, 316, 322. 
Vegetable kingdom, 2,7 ■ 
Vendee, 147. 
Venericardia, 31, 38. 
Venetia limestone, 187. 
Venezuela, 116, 120. 
Venice, buildings of, 191. 
\enus, 30, 31. 

di Milo, 205. 
Verbec, 271. 
Verde antique, 8, 49, 200, 205. 

di Corsica, 199. 

di Pegli, 195. 

di Prato, 195. 
Vermont, 47-50. 
Verona, 5, 191. 



Verracano, 185. 
Versailles, chateau of, 143. 
Vertebrates, 18, 37. 
Vevay marble, 171. 
Vicenza marble, 190. 
Vicksburg group, 30, 45, 82, 84. 

limestone, 61, 83. 
Victoria, 270. 
Vienna basin, 175. 

Exposition, 267. 

sandstone, 277. 
Villa Albani, 292, 310, 315, 326. 

Godoy, 306, 326. 

of Hadrian, 307. 

LucuUus, 301, 320. 

Ludovisi, 161. 

of the Quintilii, 309. 

Quintilius Varus, 307. 

Septimius Bassus, 309. 
Vindian Mountains, 259. 
Virgil, 199. 
Virginia, 58-60. 
Visconti, 332. 

Vise limestone, 139, 144, 151, 152. 
Vistula River, 218. 
Vitelli, 328. 
Vogul chief, 222, 
Volcano marble, 100. 

of Puppa, 259. 
Volcanoes of Arracan, 259. 

Rami, 259. 
Volcanic series, 261. 
Volga, cliffs of the, 216. 
Volscian Hills, 187. 
Volterra, 189, 192. 
Voluta, 38. 

Von Cotta, 158, 194, 199. 
Vosges Mountains, 143, 144, 

sandstone, 143. 



w. 

Waagen, 255. 

Waldenburg limestone, 158. 

Waldheimia, 27. 

Wahsatch Mountains, 91. 

Wales, 121, 124, 135, 

Waratah Bay, 269. 

Warrutsgul, 263. 

WarsaviT, 67, J2, 75. 

Washington Monument, 58, 77, 81, 

Waterless River, 272. 

Waukesha, 72. 

Waverly group, 63. 

Waygats Island, 179. 

Wealden beds, 131, 

Wedge-shaped limestone, 70. 

Weimar limestone, 157. 

Wellenkalk, 155, 168. 

Wenlock limestone, 123. 

West Indies, 1 08-1 10. 

Virginia, 58, 59. 
Westminster Abbey, 133, 141. 
Westphalia, 131, 155, 158. 



392 



INDEX. 



Whetstones, 224. 
White Crag, 133. 

limestone, 84, 109, no. 

Mountains, 50. 
River limestone, 8y. 

sea, 213, 214. 

stone, 141. 
Whitney Bay, 70. 
Whitney, Prof. J, D., 96-100, 113. 
Wilmington, serpentine of, 58. 
Winooski marbles, 47, 48. 
Wisconsin, 71, 72. 
Woolhope limestone, 123. 
Worthen, 67, 68. 
Wurtemberg, 159, 165, 
Wychwood Forest, 129. 
Wye River, 123. 
Wyoming, 92, 94. 



X. 



Xenophon, 283. 



Y. 

Yadward valley, 263. 
Yarmac, exploits of, 223. 
Yellow Creek, 82. 

limestone, 109, no. 
Yellowstone Park, 5. 

Valley, 96. 
Yenissee River, 226. 



z. 

Zagros Mountains, 247, 
Zante, island of, 208. 

bituminous wells of, 205. 
Zaphrentes, 50, 71. 
Zechstein Hmestone, 154, 155, 157 
Zeuglodon, 84. 
Zlatust, 222. 
Zoantharia, 28. 
Zoophytes, 20, 24. 
Zoroaster, 250. 

Kaaba of, 248. 



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